


Sex and Shackles

by MyDirtyLittleSecret



Category: Batman: The Animated Series
Genre: Bondage, Dubious Consent, F/M, Humilation, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2011-06-25
Updated: 2017-01-01
Packaged: 2017-10-20 17:10:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 74,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/215093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyDirtyLittleSecret/pseuds/MyDirtyLittleSecret
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Poison Ivy and Harley set their sights on Nightwing. Ivy doesn't like sharing and Nightwing has no idea how his entire world is about to change.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: All the characters depicted belong to DC comics and their respective series. I do not own anything but this nutty idea that I wrote.

Pairings: Nightwing/Poison Ivy, Nightwing/Harley

A/N: Yeah. It’s what it sounds like. An excuse to write a lot of smut. I actually had this idea a long time ago, back in when I was first writing fan fiction. I’m sure my smut writing is 10 billion times better than it was back then. (Virgins don’t write good smut. lol!) With the re-watching of the Batman: The Animated Series that my siblings and I were obsessed with, this idea re-immerged. I decided to just get it out so I could get back to my other chaptered stories. So reviews are definitely welcome, but if I don’t get many or any I’ll chalk it up to pure stress relief.  
Please keep in mind that this version of Nightwing is based on the New Batman Adventures and Batman: The Animated Series. Nightwing is more bitter and harder in these series. I have added in some influence of character from the comics and Under the Red Hood such as his tactile, chatty nature. So don’t get all uptight, because he behaves differently. Also under the circumstances about to be depicted it is natural to behave differently. Please take note that this series was also supposed to be depicting a 1940s feel, so some of the music mentioned comes from the late 40s and 50s in order to blend with the series. Poison Ivy and Harley are also depicted as the way they look in Batman: The Animated Series. Both appear more beautiful in that version. Self beta-ed so all mistakes are my own.

Warnings: Lots of sex, bondage, humiliation, violence (there’s no sex in violence, my ass), toys, choking, and I’m sure I’m missing some stuff. Just consider yourself warned. It’s honestly not as bad as you think…

My brother, you love her  
But don't give up your instincts  
Hang onto you know what  
They'll be gone fast as you blink  
They're trained to seduce you  
Suck you dry quick as they can  
They bite down, reduce you  
Now you're barely a man

Oh my God  
How could you deny the flood  
That's flowing through you

Hey you  
You're saying that she's all that you desire  
Liar  
Hey you  
You think you can throw water on this fire  
Liar

It's not wrong to let go  
And let the woman ride you  
For fuck sake, don't lose touch  
With the dog that's inside you  
She wanted what you had  
You bet she smelt the spore  
Don't wimp up, fuck her up  
One more time, slam that door

Oh my God  
How can you deny the flood  
That's flowing through you

Hey you  
You're saying that she's all that you desire  
Liar  
Hey you  
You think you can throw water on this fire  
Liar  
-Liar, By: Korn  
//////////  
The house was a derelict, pathetic structure. It was well hidden in the depths of the ghetto. There was no one to really take note of the three people inhabiting the condemned home. Even if anyone did notice, no one would say anything. Most of the people in this part of town could be accused of squatting as well; if not something far worse. Nightwing had given up hope that someone would report something suspicious. They were well hidden right in the middle of Gotham. He just had to hope that these two women would eventually get tired of him.  
He was lying, naked except for a black leather dog collar and shackles (which were chained to the floor), on an old futon cushion in the corner of the living room. His eyes tracked the movements of Harley Quinn as she cart wheeled around the open space of the room in nothing but a white button down shirt. She was getting bored of being cooped up in the house. He knew it was only a matter of time before she came to take out her frustration and boredom on him. He shifted his gaze over to Poison Ivy, who was watering her plants with the loving attention of an over protective mother.  
At first, he thought they were using him for ransom or to prove a point to Batman. It had been 2 days now. They’d made no effort to contact or lure Batman to their location. They were laying low, keeping him thoroughly drugged and enjoying his body to the fullest. They didn’t take any chances with him and gave him no opportunity for escape. Ivy kept him on a schedule with her drugs. If she even thought they were starting to wear off she’d dose him again. He was never let out of the shackles (un-chained to be moved, yes). Thankfully, the shackles were padded which added some comfort. They were still to tight to wriggle out of no matter how hard he had tried.  
The drugs made it so hard to think. He’d been there so long he was beginning to forget what it was he was supposed to be fighting; the drugs or the women? His world had narrowed down to only these two villainesses and whatever he was asked to do in order to please them. His thoughts were stuck in a fog beyond that. He had to obey their every whim as the drugs bent him to their will. That included answering whatever questions they asked when they wanted him to talk. He retained enough of his awareness to not disclose the most intimate secrets he knew. Whenever they asked him things like who is Batman, where the bat cave is, or even who he was, he’d do whatever it took not to answer. That meant biting his tongue, gouging his fingernails into his thighs, or whatever else caused pain to keep him lucid enough not to respond. After a while, they stopped interrogating him because he was causing to much damage to himself. He couldn’t please them if he was hurt or to weak from blood loss.  
He tensed when he realized Harley had snuck up on him when he almost dozed off while getting lost in his thoughts. He realized with a start that she was reaching for his mask. It was a mistake she’d never make again. As soon as Harley’s hand rested on the domino mask, he attacked like a wild dog. He snarled, teeth baring and eyes blazing, as he grabbed her wrist. He threw her down (nearly breaking her arm) as his other hand came up to lock around her throat. She shrieked, kicking and writhing against the death grip on her neck. He probably would have killed her if not for Ivy grabbing his collar and dragging him off. The red head had cuffed him hard over the head. He staggered back. Sobriety was suddenly within grasp. He glanced at Harley in horror and then down at his own hands. What the hell had just happened? He’d never snapped quite like that before. He was given no more time to contemplate his transgression. Ivy grabbed his chin, pulled his face up to hers and kissed him. He moaned in half hatred of the drugs slipping through his system and the pleasure from her mouth. Then the haze was fogging up his mind again.  
“Daddy-Bats must have really beaten that into your head,” Harley grumbled as she sat up and rubbed at her throat. “And I thought Mistah J had issues. Sheesh!”  
“Some things are ingrained in to deep for the drugs to control,” Ivy admonished in a lecturing tone. “From now on stay away from his mask.”  
“He’s turning out to be more trouble than he’s worth,” the clowness scowled, crossing her arms over her chest.  
“Oh I wouldn’t say that. He has some wonderful skills we’ve put to use. You’re a good boy, aren’t you?” Ivy cooed, petting him lovingly like he was an oversized dog. A big dangerous dog…Nightwing found himself leaning into her hand as his eyes fluttered shut. The touch made him happy, and that disgusted him. “See, he can be tamed.”  
“Yeah, like a circus tiger.” Harley pouted.  
Nightwing’s head snapped around so he could glare at her.  
“I think what you said made him angry, Harl.” Ivy smirked.  
“Why? Were you a circus freak?” Harley taunted the vigilante.  
“Yes,” Nightwing found himself answering to his dismay.  
The two women stared at him in surprise.  
“Well, that explains a lot.” Harley giggled.  
Nightwing ground his teeth together, muscles tensing and wishing he could hurt her.  
“Settle, big boy.” Ivy soothed, trailing a hand down his back. She stood up, snapped a leash to his collar, and tugged him over to the couch. She sat down, arranging herself before patting the cushion next to her. Nightwing laid down until he was sprawled out the length of the couch. He rested his head in her lap with a soft sigh. He loathed being forced to behave like this. He could not make himself disobey though. It physically pained him not to please them and do what they told him. He answered to Ivy more so than Harley, though. He growled spitefully in the back his throat as Ivy took up petting him once more. He both loved how her fingers scraped across his scalp, sending shiver up his spin, and hated that she could arouse him even without the sex pollen. She ignored him and focused her attention back on Harley.  
“Why were you trying to take his mask off anyways?” Ivy asked. “If he won’t say his name, why do you think he’d allow that?”  
“That damn mask covers up his pretty expressions. I just wanted to see what color his eyes were?” She scowled.  
“Why didn’t you just ask?”  
Harley brightened up. “I didn’t think of that!”  
Nightwing grit his teeth as she clapped her hands together with excitement. She knelt in front of him with a big grin on her face. “What color are your eyes, pet?”  
He shuddered all over as he fought not to answer. They were getting to close to the truth. It’s to much; his subconscious warred with his drugged mind. It’s just a color, his mind teased. No, no…! “Blue,” he hissed, through clenched teeth.  
“What color blue?” She cajoled further.  
“Twilight.” He growled.  
“Oh how pretty!” Harley clapped her hands again. “I wanna see!” Her hands started moving towards his face.  
He tensed up, growling in the back of his throat.  
“Harley,” Ivy warned, pushing Nightwing’s head back down onto her lap. “Relax,” she appeased him. “We won’t take it.” He went nearly limp, obeying her order, but feeling relieved all the same. “Don’t antagonize him, Harl. He’s sensitive.”  
Harley harrumphed and crossed her arms over her chest again. “He likes you more than me,” she pouted.  
“Naturally,” Ivy smiled. “My drugs make him more drawn to me.”  
“That’s not fair at all. I was the one that lured out to be captured.” The clowness scowled.  
Nightwing rolled his eyes at her childish behavior. He was seriously going to kick his own ass somehow for this later when he got free. He couldn’t believe he fell for such a simple, stupid trap. He should have sensed something was wrong. He should have seen it coming.  
He had been chasing after Harley through a darkened warehouse. He’d had no warning before Ivy’s vines caught him up in a steel like grip. He’d had no idea that the two women had teamed up. He hadn’t even thought they were friends anymore after the last incident. He should have known better than to under estimate these kinds of women. He thought he’d learned his lesson after the supposed ‘partnership’ with Catwoman. Every time he thought he was finally starting to prove that he could do things on his own something like this happened. He was beginning to wonder if it was some higher power telling him he was meant to be with a partner.  
These two women hadn’t made any grand gestures or speeches when they caught him. They had been quick and efficient. He didn’t even have enough time to try to break through the vines with his edged gauntlets, before Ivy had him by the chin and was kissing him. The drug had subdued him swiftly. No matter what he did to fight it his body wouldn’t listen. It answered only to Ivy and Harley. He felt like a passenger along for the ride. He had never felt so out of control in his entire life and it terrified him. It also infuriated him. That hadn’t even been the worst of it.  
They’d hurried him to a car and driven to their hideout. Soon as the women had him into their hideout, Ivy ordered him to strip down. He’d felt nauseated as piece by piece his identity was taken off and tossed in a pile. His mask had stayed. At the time, they hadn’t pushed for him to take it off. When he stood bare in front of them, they’d appraised him like he was some show quality animal. Ivy had deemed him worthy of keeping then promptly blew sex pollen in his face.  
“Why me?” he’d gasped desperately.  
“Oh you know how girls are. We see a pretty new thing and we want it.” Ivy smiled wickedly. “But you weren’t just pretty. You were beautiful. Didn’t anyone tell you that it’s dangerous to run around in an outfit like that? It might attract unwanted attention. Not even a cape to cover that fine looking backside of yours.” He sucked in a thick, heavy breath as her fingers ran over his bare backside. The sex pollen was beginning to burn through his system like a firestorm.  
“And you were easy prey,” Harley grinned broadly, leaning forward into his face. He’d wished he could lean away. “Batman would never have gotten caught. And that new Robin is just too young.”  
“Maybe we felt it was justice to use you. After all these years of throwing us behind bars, it’s only fair.” Ivy continued. Her hand traced from his backside around his hip and pausing only centimeters from his quickly rising cock. “You and Batman were always destroying our pets and plants, so we thought maybe we should get something Batman won’t destroy. A pet he’d be upset to have hurt…”  
“Oh! And since you’re our pet now we got you a collar!” Harley chirped, reaching over to the dining room table and picking up a plain black leather collar. “We even personalized it for you!”  
Nightwing’s eyes dropped down to the silver tag hanging from the collar. His vigilante name was scrawled into the sterling silver metal. He felt panic course through him along with another wave of nausea. This was so much worse than anything he’d thought they had planned for him. Torture he could endure. Days without food or water. Beatings. Whatever. But this…humiliation, it was to much. For a moment, the sheer force of his panic was enough to over ride the drug and propel him backwards. He scrambled away from them until he hit a wall. None of the things that had happened to him could have ever prepared him for such a complete loss of control.  
“Stay still!” Harley snapped and his body obeyed, freezing in place. She sauntered over and tipped his head back to gain access to his throat. He closed his eyes as she slipped the leather around his jugular and fastened it tight. Not enough to obstruct his breathing, but enough so the he felt it with every pull of air he dragged in. “There. You look even prettier like that, bird boy.”  
Ivy stepped in front of him as well. “You’re going to be a good pet, aren’t you? Do everything we ask?” She reached out to run her fingers through his fine black hair.  
He swallowed hard as he felt the compelling nature of the drugs forcing him to obey. “Yes.” He bit out, the sick feeling inside him growing.  
“Good. From now on only speak when we want you to answer. You are a pet so you express yourself like one. Don’t try to escape. If you try, you will be punished. Understood?” Ivy inquired sternly. He found himself nodding. “Now come. Harley and I want to see how talented a pet you can be.” She smirked as she turned away and walked towards the bedroom. Nightwing slowly stepped away from the wall and followed after her. Harley walked behind him, staring at his ass the whole way. The rest all became hazy after that bedroom door slammed shut…  
Ivy lifted her hand from Nightwing’s head, bringing him back from the thick fog of his thoughts. “Go please, Harley. She’s feeling left out.”  
Nightwing found himself slinking off the couch to crawl across the floor to Harley. She smiled like a kid receiving candy. His cock was already growing heavy with need between his legs. He crouched in front of Harley, waiting for any commands. Harley smirked, reaching out to grab his hair and pull his head back. He swallowed thickly as his neck was exposed. The awkward angle forced him back onto his heels. He kept his arms limp at his sides. He knew better now than to make a move without permission.  
“You’re such a pretty pet,” Harley cooed with a leer.  
He leaned forward just a little bit, offering himself, and trying not to believe he actually wanted this. He really couldn’t be coming close to begging for it. That had to be the drugs. He hated himself all the more for the denial. Harley’s leer turned even more taunting. Of course, she could see what all this was doing to him. She’d once been a brilliant psychologist. He was sure underneath all the insanity, she was still smart enough to read him.  
“It’s alright to want,” she whispered into his ear.  
He shook his head a little, trying to deny the sex pollen and his own lust making his dick throb in anticipation.  
“Whatever helps you sleep at night, bird boy,” She chuckled. She lifted up her shirt and slid onto his lap. He settled himself so he was a little more comfortable with her weight on his thighs. She rubbed herself against him like a cat stretching after a long, languid nap. He groaned, eyes fluttering shut. She was wet already. Every touch of her silken skin against his cock was heaven and hell all rolled into one. She rubbed her clit against the swollen head of his dick, enjoying the sounds escaping his throat as she worked them both into a higher state of desire. His hands twitched at his sides. He itched to reach up and feel her.  
“Go ahead,” she breathed in his ear. “Touch me.”  
He slid his hands under her shirt with a sigh of relief. Large, warm palms dragged up her sides before taking a breast in each hand. He squeezed roughly and rubbed the pad of his thumbs over her nipples. She arched her back, rolling her hips against him harder, as he pinched her nipples. She had him so distracted that he barely noticed her shifting her hips to line up with his cock. He made a sound like the air had been punched out his lungs when she slammed herself down onto his erection. Her hands clamped onto his biceps, using him for leverage as she began to work herself on his cock. Her hips rolled, lifted, flexing herself up and down the length of him. His head dropped back as she rode him faster. He couldn’t stop his fingers from digging into the soft flesh of her breasts out of sheer reflex. She keened, bucking hard. She felt so good around him; tight, warm, and moist. She was driving him crazy! Thankfully, it didn’t last long. She was coming moments later with a half choked off cry.  
She rose up off him completely as soon as she calmed down. He whined in agony, so hard he would cry if he was able, and surged his hips up trying to meet hers. She laughed meanly as she hovered over his erection. She dipped down letting him sink in only to the head before lifting back up and doing it again. He began to pant, desperate want and aching erection making him almost verbally beg for her to just finish him.  
“Harley…” Ivy warned. She didn’t like it when the clowness teased him. He could kiss her for that right now.  
Harley pouted, not happy about having her fun taken away from her. “Fine,” she grumped before sinking back down on him. He moaned in appreciation, hands rubbing her sides in something like thanks before she smacked them away. She finished him off with quick, deep smacks of her hips. He was spiraling over the edge in moments. He came with a broken shout; hands convulsing on her thighs as his body shuddered through his orgasm. When he could breathe again and semi-think, he realized his face was pressed into her neck. He was surprised she let him stay like that for even a few seconds. She didn’t like him acting to familiar with her (unlike Ivy). She got off and stood up. He leaned forward obediently to lick her clean of his cum. He shivered as she pet his head like he was a dog being rewarded for behaving well. He sat back on his heels when he was done and watched her straighten out her shirt.  
“Go back to Ivy,” she ordered.  
He slunk back over to the red head, crawling back onto the couch, and settling with his head in her lap once more.  
“Good boy,” Ivy praised, scratching his back the way he liked. He tried not to purr in appreciation.  
“He still likes you more than me,” Harley remarked, before disappearing into the bedroom.  
“Is that true?” Ivy asked with a coy smirk.  
He glanced up at her emerald eyes. “Yes,” he answered honestly.  
“Good.” Ivy smiled, and it was a truly content looking smile.  
//////////  
It didn’t take Nightwing very long to figure out that Ivy didn’t like to share him. She didn’t like Harley to be in the room when she decided she wanted to use him for sex. He shouldn’t have been surprised to find out that she liked to take things slower and really indulge in the moment. Harley was all about fast and furious, which in several ways was a good thing. If her sessions with him carried on any longer than they did, he’d probably be dead by now. At least, with Ivy he never had to worry about not getting off or being tormented in the process. In fact, if they weren’t in this situation he’d believe it was more than just sex to Ivy. He always enjoyed himself when he was with the red head and that freaked him out.  
“Stop drifting away,” Ivy reprimanded, bring him back to the present. This constant drifting of murky thoughts was just another side effect of the drug, but he was getting sick of it.  
He nodded, arching his hips up to hers as she sank down onto him. He let out a soft moan as her nails scraped down his sides. She had quickly learned all the places on his body that made him ache with arousal. His biggest weakness, he’d found was the feeling of her nails on any part of him. He didn’t know why. Something about the light scratching set his nerves to tingling. He reached up to wrap his arms around her back and pull her down. She didn’t resist. She slid her arms around his neck and burying her face in his throat. The damp wash of her breath made him tremble. She tucked her hips down, grinding their pelvises together. He rolled his hips up to meet hers. They found a slow, deep rhythm that built up the pleasure and pressure. He couldn’t stop himself from rubbing his palms over every inch of skin he could reach; back, sides, ass, thighs, and anywhere else in between. She shivered hard against him and started to go still. She was close to coming. He gripped her ass in both hands and thrust into her a little harder. A few snaps of his hips had her coming in soft cry, muffled against his throat. She started to move again after a moment. She pushed up, gaining more leverage, so she could move easier. He looked up, watching her bright red hair flutter about her and the soft bounce of her breasts with each rock of her body. Her emerald green eyes were half closed as she exulted in the dance between them. She was so damn beautiful. He wanted really badly to kiss her all of the sudden. Not just that, he wanted to roll her underneath him and show her how he really worshipped a woman. His teeth caught his bottom lip as a sharp wave of lust had his body jittering close to orgasm. Another sharp roll of her hips and he was gone. He gasped aloud, hands gripping hard onto her hips, as he came. It felt so damn good, so fucking perfect. And that was so fucking wrong…  
When he opened his eyes and looked up at her, she was staring at him with an expression of confused wonder and desire. He wondered if maybe he looked the same way. There was thick feeling of possibility there for something more. He could feel it like a drug in the air. She leaned forward until her lips were only a scant inch away from his. Own. She hesitated. They stared at each other. Both were caught in the tension and attraction that teased at them. His hand reached up, hovering millimeters from her cheek. They stayed that way for one long, frozen moment.  
She sat up abruptly, pushing his hand away and climbing off him. She glared at him over her shoulder, like it was his fault for making her feel that way. “You’re just a pet!” She said, fiercely. Whether to remind him or her, it didn’t matter. The words snapped them both back to the reality of the situation. Whatever it was, they’d felt was just ridiculous. She chained him back to the bed and swiped her shirt off the ground. She tugging it on, and then stalked out the door; slamming it shut in her wake.  
//////////  
Nightwing felt filthy. He’d been here for several days since his capture and he had yet to shower. He felt grimy with sweat and other various bodily fluids. It was starting to get to him. Normally he’d be able to deal with it if he had clothes on. However, sitting around completely naked, filthy and stinking of sex was a to much to put up with. He eyed the bathroom longingly for what felt like the hundredth time in the last hour.  
“Do you have to use the bathroom?” Ivy ask suddenly, apparently picking up on his agitation.  
He glanced over at her. “No.”  
“Then what do you want?”  
“A shower,” he answered curtly.  
Harley popped up over the edge of the couch to smirk at him. “Pets don’t shower.”  
“She’s right, but you are beginning to smell. A pet does need proper grooming,” Ivy remarked. She had taken to treating him like even more of a dog lately after the near kiss in the bedroom. “A bath it is then.”  
He sat up straighter despite himself, eager at the prospect of being clean. Shit, now they were both looking pleased at his reaction.  
Harley jumped up with a smile and danced over to him. “What a cute pet,” Harley cooed, reaching out to tousle his hair. “Are you happy to get a bath, birdy?” She asked in that annoying tone people used on small dogs and children. She quickly unchained him from the floor.  
“Yes,” he answered, because he had to.  
“Well, c’mon, big boy,” Ivy stood up and walked to the bathroom.  
He jumped up and followed after her, practically on her heels.  
“If he had a tail he’d be wagging it,” Harley taunted.  
Nightwing ignored her. He watched as Ivy ran the water, dumping in some flowery smelling bubble bath, and letting the tub fill. Soon as Ivy turned off the water, he nearly dove in into the tub. Water splashed over the sides in his enthusiasm. He heard Ivy shriek, jumping back, and Harley giggling wildly. He didn’t care. The water was absolutely heavenly. He slid all the way under the water, reveling in the heat. He came out when he couldn’t hold his breath any longer. He gasped, swiping the bubbles off his face. He sank back against the back of the tub and stretched out the as much as he could.  
Ah, so much better, he thought contentedly as his eyes drifted shut.  
He listened to Ivy gathering up the shampoo and soap, pulling a towel out of the closet, and then settling down beside him on the edge of the tub.  
“Sit forward,” she said.  
He did as she asked. She poured some shampoo on to his head and began to scrub it into his hair. He found himself sighing happily.  
“Can I get in too?” Harley asked, tip toeing forward.  
He cracked on eye open and growled at her.  
Ivy smirked. “I think that’s a no, Harl.”  
The blond crossed her arms and pouted. “Well, that’s no fun.”  
Ivy continued to work her fingers through Nightwing’s hair. Oh, he could get used to this kind of pampering. He rumbled low in his throat as she scratched his scalp as she scrubbed.  
“Maybe we should have just bathed you first,” Ivy remarked in his ear. “Then you wouldn’t have been so against staying with us.”  
He shrugged. He wasn’t going to tell her that since he’d been here his tactile side had been more than appeased. He’d never had this much continual contact with anyone in a very long time. It was soothing, wonderful, and stripping his will to fight. His desire for touch had always been one of his greatest weaknesses. It had gotten him into some pretty crappy relationships and some shitty situations when he’d been out on his own. Now, it was coaxing him to forget escape, ignore the danger, and give in to the demands these two women made of his body without a fight.  
She picked up a cup, turned on the faucet, and rinsed out his hair carefully. She picked up the conditioner and began to work that into his hair. He didn’t think he’d ever gotten this kind of luxurious treatment even when he’d paid for it at a barber shop. Another thorough rinsing had his hair shiny, clean, and smelling faintly girly. He honestly didn’t care how it smelled. She picked up a bright pink loofa, poured an exuberant amount of rose smelling body wash on it, and began to work it into a thick, bubbly lather. She leaned over and began to scrub his back, starting at the tops of his shoulders and working downwards. She washed every inch of his arms, sides, and back, massaging over his skin with her hands as she went. He was practically melting into the water underneath her ministrations.  
“Let me wash his front!” Harley’s voice startled him out of the daze he’d slipped into. She had a pleading look in her eyes. She was obviously jealous…again.  
Ivy handed over the loofa without a fuss. Perhaps she was getting tired of Harley’s complaining as well.  
“Stand up,” Harley sing songed at him.  
Nightwing got reluctantly to his feet. He would rather stay under Ivy’s talented hands. He just knew Harley was going to mess with him. He wasn’t wrong.  
She washed him from the throat down. She teased the loofa over his nipples then scrapped across them with her nails as she worked her way down his chest. The touches started a low burn of arousal in him that he could have rather done without for a while. However, the sex pollen made his body hyper aware and react whether he wanted to or not. Her hands played around the jut of his hips, trailing down the V shape muscle to his semi- hard dick. She washed his member thoroughly. She rolled loofa around the head, swirled it around the length, and reached back to wash his balls carefully. Her hands skipped away from his erection as soon as he was fully hard. She smirked as she moved the loofa to wash his thighs, deliberately staying away from his erection. He made an annoyed sound in the back of his throat as her fingers teased the insides of his thighs. She drew the pads of her fingers nearly up to his balls before sliding away again. He glared as she performed the same trick several times. He was achingly hard by then and wished she’d just stop teasing.  
“Harley, quite being mean. If you are going to get him off then do it,” Ivy sighed in irritation.  
Nightwing cut his eyes over to her in silent thanks. She pretended to ignore the glance.  
“You always ruin the fun, Ivy,” Harley scowled.  
Ivy snatched loofa back. “I never liked teasing animals. It’s cruel. Go do something else while I finish cleaning him.”  
Harley huffed angrily and stomped out, slamming the door behind her.  
“Sit back down and enjoy the water while it’s still warm,” Ivy ordered.  
Nightwing was pleased to do as he was told for once. He sank back down into the water with a sigh. He was still painfully aroused though. He shifted his hands against his thighs. He wanted to take care of it, but he’d already been told not to touch himself unless told to. He grit his teeth, as he sank lower into the water. Another erection he’d have to will away or wait until they decided to take care of for him.  
“Poor bird,” Ivy cooed gently, petting his hair. “I’ll make you feel better.”  
He looked over at her in surprise. Since when did she care if his sexual frustration put him in pain? He didn’t really care though as she slipped her hand under the water to wrap around his cock. His eyes slipped shut as soft, grateful groan escaped him. She stroked him in long, twisting pulls that had him panting in seconds. His hips jittered slightly as her thumb found his favorite spot and rubbed it with every stroke. Damn, she was good. Her pace quickened, drawing him closer to release. A moment later, his whole body went rigid as his climax surged through him. He gasped then whined as the pleasure over took all his senses for a few blissful seconds. It was over almost to fast. If he’d had more presence of mind he might have been embarrassed about how fast she’d gotten him off. He was a little disgusted with himself at the whine he’d let out. He rarely whined. He didn’t care at this point. He felt good, loose and worn out. It was all that really mattered in the haze of his drugged mind.  
Maybe if he had been able think clearly he would never have done what he did next…  
He reached up to cup her face and draw her closer. She was so startled by his sudden move that she didn’t think to pull away. His lips found hers easily. He kissed her slow and deep, not daring to use tongue. He pulled away after a few seconds. His hand dropped back into the water as he shifted away. She didn’t move away from him like he thought she would. She didn’t even punishment him as he’d been certain she would. Instead, she just stared at him with a puzzled, semi-dazed look.  
“Why’d you do that?” She asked softly with a hitch in her voice.  
“I wanted to,” he answered simply. “You never said no kissing.”  
“We’ve never kissed you,” she pointed out.  
He shrugged. “Doesn’t mean I can’t kiss you.”  
This was the most he’d talked since he’d been with them. She found she liked the sound of his voice very much. She had liked his kiss even more. Keeping him was turning out to be dangerous for her, more so than she would have thought. She had calculated the risks of being caught by Batman. That was a known danger. These feelings that Nightwing was causing in her was not something she had been prepared for at all. It went beyond plain lust and attraction. She’d always felt that for him even when she’d first met him as Robin. He had always had this fierce, passionate way about him that just caught her attention. No, these were feelings of caring and that was bad. But until she decided to let him go, he was hers. And she would take what she could get from him. Danger be damned.  
“Kiss me again,” she whispered. Her lips twitched into a smile at the shocked look on his face. He was quick to oblige her though.  
/////////  
Nightwing had spent more than a year traveling the world. He’d learned a lot about fighting, losing, surviving, and himself. He had thought he could handle anything that came his way. He thought there was nothing else to learn about himself. He had been arrogant to assume that. Everyone was always learning more, especially about themselves. He shouldn’t have been so surprised to find he liked some of the things Harley did to him. He was by no means new to the whole sex thing. Hell, he was the type to get it where he could (male or female). So he’d done some pretty kinky things in the past with people he trusted. However, he had never tried or even thought to try some of the things Harley had done to him.  
He never would have thought he was a gasper. Being choked while getting off had never sounded like his idea of a good time. He didn’t exactly have a choice in this though. She could ask him if he wanted to, but she knew he’d say yes. He had to. The drugs made him. In his mind though, he was chanting ‘no no no no’ like a mantra that might make it all stop. It didn’t.  
That was why he was lying here now, with Harley’s hands around his throat, as she rode him hard. His heart was pounding a mile a minute from the anxiety, excitement, and twisted pleasure coursing through his system. He could breathe only in short, small gasps. Not nearly enough, as his vision started to get spotty. His hands were clamped around Harley’s wrists (She had removed the linking chain between the shackles so that he could at least touch her easily. His wrists were still chained to the posts of the bed), unable to make himself let go even when she told him too. His survival instincts were warring fiercely inside him with the drugs. He writhed beneath her, nearly unseating her a few time. Her hips flexed and rolled with every move he made like he was some horse she was taming to saddle. The pleasure was burning brighter in him. It felt like liquid fire coursing through every vein. She sneered down at him as she twisted her hips a certain way and slammed down on him. The move made him jerk as ecstasy spiked through him. The moan he wanted to release was caught in his throat. The only sound that snuck out was an embarrassing, whimpering gasp. She laughed at that, making her tighten around him. His eyes half rolled back in his head as her slick walls clamped around him.  
Fuck, he thought. She is gonna kill me. I am gonna die like this…  
His back arched as she ground her hips down hard into his and flexed her walls around him, using the new found stimulus against him. She continued to just grind down on to him, shifting her hips around in small circles. It was good, so fucking good, but he needed more friction. He wished she’d just lift up and start riding him hard again. He really wished she’d let him breathe more than anything. A second later, he got one wish as she rose up to sink back down on him. She slammed herself down on to him, once then twice; and suddenly she was coming. She tossed her head back, sending her blond hair flying about her, and cried out loudly. He tried to groan as her walls convulsed around him. It was to much sensation and not enough all at the same time. He was so damned close. Move, he begged silently, please! He was so close he could taste it. His whole body was trembling in need. His conscious was narrowed down to the orgasm building almost painfully in him. She barely shifted her hips and then he was there. His whole world exploded. He heard someone scream, belated realizing it was him. His vision actually went almost completely dark as pleasure roared through every nerve in his body. He felt like he left his body for a moment; floating away on sensation. Then suddenly there was a shock of light and the pleasure intensified. Harley had let go of her death grip on his throat. The shock of oxygen to his brain had sent his body into another soaring orgasm. Stars burst across his vision. He couldn’t think, see, or hear as rapture tore through every part of him. He was nothing in those moments, but a creature of pleasure.  
When he came back to himself, Harley was smirking like a Cheshire cat. He was still breathing like a runaway freight train. His heart was pounding so loud in his ears he was surprised she couldn’t hear it.  
“Fuck,” he whispered, voice weak from shouting and his throat being constricted. He cringed, waiting for her to hit him for speaking when it wasn’t allowed.  
“Man, did you scream!” Harley laughed, jiggling on top of him as she clapped her hands.  
He moaned deeply as she clamped down around him and the wriggling made his hips stutter under her. It felt like another mini orgasm shoot through him at the motion. It felt so good it hurt. He was still too sensitized after that ecstatic orgasm from before. He didn’t think he’d ever come that hard in his life. He reached up to grab her hips and held her in place, so he could recover. He prayed she wouldn’t use her apparently very useful inner muscles to torment him further.  
“Look, you even made Ivy come running in here to make sure I didn’t kill you,” Harley continued to giggle.  
Nightwing lifted his head up and looked over at the doorway, where the red head was watching them silently. He thought he could see the concern in her eyes, but mostly she just looked annoyed. Why would she care about what happened to him?  
“You’re kinkier than I ever would have thought.” Harley remarked as she pushed his hands off and climbed off him. “Who would have guessed Batman’s big bird is a gasper?”  
He swallowed hard, trying to rid his mouth of the cottony feeling. “I’m not.” The questioning quality of the statement had been the only thing allowing him to speak up.  
“Oh, you are, bird boy. You liked it…a lot.” She smiled broadly at him.  
And he had. Fuck, it’d been so intense it’d felt like an out of body experience. He didn’t bother to argue with her any further. He dropped his head back down onto the mattress and just laid there trying to get his breathing back under control. Harley shoved his hands off her hips before lifting up and sliding off him. He let out a relieved sigh. Harley laughed at his reaction.  
“I’ve still got lots more planned for you, bird boy. Just you wait.” She grinned playfully.  
Fuck, she really was trying to kill him with sex. He didn’t resist as she chained the shackles back together and then tightened the chain so it pulled his arms back over his head. He had no desire to move any time soon after that session. He’d never felt so drained after an orgasm in his life.  
//////////  
He’d been with them for more than a week now. He had gotten somewhat used to the weird things they (well mostly Harley) thought up to do to him. Looking over at the blond as she argued with Ivy made him remember what she’d done to him last…  
“You ever take it in the ass, bird boy?”  
“Yes…”  
“Oooh, naughty. That’ll make this way more enjoyable then.” Harley smirked, holding up a dildo shaped vibrater. He swallowed slowly at the sight of it.  
His heart raced as the dildo was rubbed against his anus. He bit his lip, half closing his eyes, as she began to press it inside him. She hadn’t bothered to prepare him or maybe didn’t know she was supposed to. He concentrated on staying loose and allowing himself to open as easily as possible to the intrusion. It’d been so long since he’d felt anything inside him that he’d almost forgotten how strange and good it felt to be opened this way. He forced himself to relax as she kept pushing more inside him. Thankfully, she’d been very generous with the lube. It helped the dildo slip inside him smoothly.  
The first vibration tore a startled yelp out him. Holy shit, no wonder women used these things! He thought.  
Soon he was writhing, unable to stop himself from doing so, as the pleasure raced through him. It was like every nerve was being electrocuted. Continuous moans spilled from his lips as Harley worked the dildo in and out, touching his prostate on almost every thrust in. It was driving him wild. He was gonna lose it fast. She clamped her hand down around his dick, staving off his orgasm, and making him groan in near agony. The pleasure was to good—too much. He wanted to come. He bucked his hips as the dildo vibrated over his prostate. He couldn’t even stop the tears that were leaking out from under his mask from sensory overload. Harley pulled the dildo out once more before shoving it back in and pressing it expertly to his prostate. She held it there, making him nearly scream as he was stimulated. His cock was a drooling mess. Then suddenly her hand flew open, releasing the pressure. He jerked and came with choked cry. Cum splattered over his stomach and chest in an arch as his body bowed up under the sheer force of his orgasm. The vibrations continued to buzz down his nerves making him nearly sob with ecstasy as aftershocks bolted through him. It felt so good it bordered on agony. He was relieved when she finally pulled out and left him to recuperate.  
“C’mon, Red!” Harley’s voice, jerked him back to the present. He remembered they were still arguing.  
He scratched absentmindedly at the collar as he listened to their discussion with growing irritation. He’d gotten comfortable enough with his collar that he barely notice it anymore. He was responding the pet names much to his distaste. He hardly spoke. His communicating consisted of more dog like sounds. He laid in their laps, let them pet his hair and body, and responded happily when they talked to him in that cooing voice that irritated the crap out of him. So in essence he was becoming the pet they wanted to make him into. This, however, was a new humiliation…  
Thank God, for the drugs pumping through his system, because he might have actually really hurt them for this one.  
“It needs to be cut,” Harley was saying.  
“But I think it’s pretty,” ivy argued.  
“He looks like a girl with all that hair. Besides didn’t it used to be short?” The blond asked shrewdly.  
They both looked over at him.  
“Yes,” he spat. It’d taken a long time to grow his hair out to this length. If they cut it off he was going t be seriously pissed…even if Harley had a point.  
“It looked better short!” Harley said loudly.  
“He’s not a boy anymore,” ivy remarked. “That style is out dated for him.”  
“So do something else.”  
Ivy crossed her arms, still resistant to the idea. She regarded Nightwing thoughtfully. “Do you want a hair cut?”  
“No.” He replied fiercely.  
“See, Harl.”  
“He’s a pet! He doesn’t get a say! Besides, his hair keeps getting in the way! It gets caught in the chains, his collar, and whatever else! We have to brush out the tangles! I’ve got enough of my own hair to brush!” Harley continued to fight.  
Even Ivy had to admit she had made a valid argument at this point.  
“Besides all that hair gives the bad guys something to grab onto in a fight!” Harley laid down her final figurative card in the debate.  
Ok, Nightwing had to agree with her there. That had already happened a few times. The long hair was getting to be a pain in the ass. It’d been more about lack of money, time, or it being a priority when he was traveling that kept him from cutting it. Longer hair had helped him blend in some countries. He supposed now it’d out lived its usefulness. But dammit, he wanted to be the one to make the decision of where and when his hair got hacked off.  
“Ivy used to be a hair stylist, you know,” Harley remarked. “So she’ll do a good job. So I say cut it off!”  
Nightwing blinked and looked at Ivy for confirmation. Ivy reached over to run her fingers through his long, fine hair. She sighed in defeat.  
“Alright.”  
So that was how the vigilante found himself sitting on a chair in the middle of the kitchen with ivy holding a pair of scissors. He eyed the sharp blades in her hand with worry. At least, they’d thrown a sheet over him so he wouldn’t get hair in weird places. Ivy also had a pair of real hair cutting scissors, not just something you’d use around the house. That made him feel slightly better, but not by much. Two crazy chics and a pair of scissors was enough to make anyone nervous, but when one was supposed to be cutting his hair…  
“Sit still,” Ivy reminded him when he shifted tensely.  
He sat ramrod straight in the chair. There was no way they could order him not to scowl through the whole affair though. Harley sat on the counter watching, with a lollipop in her mouth, giving her opinions. Ivy ignored her as she began to lop off big chunks of black hair. Nightwing watched in dismay as his hair was hacked off and dropped to the floor. He couldn’t do anything about it. All that time spent, he thought sadly.  
When his hair got shorter, Ivy began to cut more precisely. He actually did feel like he was at a professional barber shop with the quick, efficient way she was cutting. His neck felt naked as she trimmed his hair in close to the back of his head. That was an odd sensation he hadn’t felt in a long while. She left about an inch and a half in the back before continuing to style the hair on the top of his head. When she was down she picked up the electric razor (one that was normally used for shaving other places, to his dismay) and trimmed up the fine hairs on his neck, in front of his ears, and edges. She scrubbed her fingers through his hair to shake out the loose clippings before the sheet off of him. She grabbed a bottle of hair gel and began to style his hair up. It was over much faster than he’d anticipated.  
“Not bad,” Harley whistled. “Oh you look so much better! What a pretty pet!”  
“He does look handsome,” Ivy agreed. “More mature.” She grabbed a small mirror and held it up for Nightwing to see her handiwork.  
He was actually pleasantly surprised. Ivy had done a fantastic job. She’d kept his hair about 3 inches long on the top so it could still be styled. The rest tapered down into the close cropped hair on the back of his head. It looked neat, spiked up just enough to give it some texture. It looked sort of like George Clooney’s hair cut, now that he thought about it. It did make him look older and more mature. He actually looked really damn good.  
“Do you like it?” Ivy asked curiously.  
“Yes, I do,” he answered sincerely.  
“Good,” she pet his cheek and gave him a kiss. Harley wrinkled up her nose at that, but said nothing.  
Nightwing could tell that she was actually very pleased that he liked the haircut. Huh, he thought, she is beginning to act like she cares…  
///////////  
Nightwing was supremely grateful for the radio that broke what could have otherwise been unbearable silences. There was no TV in the old abandoned house. Even if there was, Nightwing had a feeling Ivy would have kept it turned off as much as possible. So entertainment usually came from sex, but when neither woman wanted sex there was nothing to do. The silences at those times could be deafening and so could the cat fights they got into on a nearly daily basis. The day Harley brought home a worn looking radio had been a huge relief. In the mornings, she turned on talk shows which helped him stay informed of the outside world. It was somewhat disappointing to know that Gotham was surviving just fine without him. It angered him to know that Bludhaven was spiraling again without him. The rest of the day, Harley rotated between several stations playing R&B, rock and roll, blues, and pop. Usually he hated the radio, because they’d play only one good song than five bad ones. Now he didn’t care what was played. The music was a welcome distraction. It helped him pretend he was somewhere else for a while.  
This particular afternoon, he was sprawled out on his back on the futon. Ivy was once again tending to her roses. It was Harley’s turn to cook dinner so she was in the kitchen banging pots around. The radio was turned up as loud as the blond dared put it without receiving scathing remarks from Ivy. The radio was tuned into a pop station this time. A song came on that he was one of his favorites; Simple Melody by: Bing Crosby and Gary Crosby. It had come out his senior year of college. He remembered being forced into singing it with Brian one night. He and his small gang of friends had been hanging out at a pub. Sam, Vicky, and Barbara had thought they were going to embarrass him. Man, had he surprised them. He didn’t usually sing a lot in public, despite his chorus stint in high school. He did like to belt it out in his loft when he was alone, but that was about it. He’d been told by a lot of people that he had a good voice. Maybe in another life he might have tried to do something with that voice. It didn’t matter. He’d nailed that song that night. He sang Gary Crosby’s part to perfection. Just remembering the looks on his friends’ faces made him grin in triumph again.  
He heard someone singing and belated realized it was him. He hadn’t even been aware that he was until the absence of the other sounds in the house became noticeable. The sound of Ivy’s sheers and the banging of pots had stopped. He also found that he was out singing the volume on the radio. He stopped abruptly. Shit, he thought. Damn drugs had sent him off into his own little world again. He very slowly tipped his head back to see both women staring at him like he’d grown a third eye. He was pretty sure his expression would have been described as sheepish in that moment.  
“You sing?” Harley asked from the kitchen doorway. She looked utterly awestruck.  
“Uh…yeah.” He said.  
“You like Bing Crosby?” Ivy inquired, shocked.  
He nodded. “Very much.”  
Their eyebrows were practically to their hairlines by now.  
“You have a beautiful singing voice,” Ivy said in stunned disbelief.  
“Thanks,” he muttered. He could feel himself blushing now. The look of amazed appreciation for the new talent they’d learned about made him embarrassed.  
“From now on, bird boy, you can sing to every song you know,” Harley grinned.  
He blinked in surprise. He’d been sort of expecting to get punished. Singing was after all, sustained talking. He’d been ordered not to talk. But now, he could sing. It was actually a relief. At least, he could use his voice for something other than degrading animalistic noises. He smiled for the first time in what felt like a long time.  
Ivy strolled over and knelt down beside him. “If I had known you could sing I would have made you serenade me in bed.”  
He quirked his mouth into a sideways smirk. “I still can,” he whispered.  
She smiled, unchained him, and dragged him towards the bedroom.  
“Hey, I was listening to him!” Harley protested.  
“And you can listen to him again when you finish dinner,” Ivy replied sarcastically. “Right now, this bird’s going to be singing just for me.”  
The door slammed shut behind them.  
//////////  
He hadn’t slept longer than 2 to 3 hours in almost two weeks. He had dozed off here and there in between but nothing for very long. It was not enough rest to sustain him. He hadn’t wanted to sleep around these two women. He didn’t trust them, no matter how complacent the drugs, the attention, and the sex were making him. He was taught better than that. He had no way of knowing what they would do to him if he passed out. The only time he slept was when they did, but in short spurts so that they could not sneak up on him. He also stayed awake when they slept hoping he could find some way to escape. He kept waiting for them to slip up. That notion had been futile thus far. When they were gone or busy they kept him chained in the corner on his futon. He was to far from anything that could come in handy in order to break free. They had long since disposed of his utility belt so there was no hope in reaching that for help. Either they had guessed his belt had a built in GPS tracker on it or they just didn’t want to take chances in leaving it around. They never let down their guard with him as he hoped they would. They didn’t under estimate him in the slightest either.  
So after days of little to no sleep in captivity and lots of sexual activity, Nightwing was waning. Food and drink could keep a body going, but exhaustion was just as deadly. And he was beyond exhaustion at this point. He knew logically his body would force itself to sleep eventually. He’d fought it off for as long as possible. He was very close to giving up though.  
“Come on, big boy,” Ivy said to him, unchaining him and clipping on his leash.  
He tilted his head slowly up in her direction. Her command and the drugs were not enough motivation to make him want to move.  
“Get up!” She snapped irritably.  
He forced himself to his feet after a long struggling moment and swayed. She grabbed his chin and maneuvered his face down so she could look into his face. This was bad, he knew. He’d let himself become vulnerable. He struggled to push the fatigue away and stand straighter. Ivy grabbed his biceps to steady him as he stumbled forward on his feet. She turned back to call Harley when suddenly she had an armful of very heavy male. Nightwing collapsed on top of her, total system shut down in half a second, and pitched them straight for the floor.  
“Harl!” Ivy shrieked as the vigilante’s dead weight dragged her to the floor with a thud.  
Harley ran out of the bathroom, half dressed, and stared open mouthed at the sight in front of her. She burst into a fit of giggles. “He’s like an oversized teddy bear!”  
“He’s heavy!” Ivy gasped. “Help get him off of me!”  
Harley ran around and grabbed him under the arm pits, hauling up enough so that Ivy could shimmy out from underneath him. Together, they dragged him back onto his futon. Harley giggled madly as he flopped down bonelessly.  
“He looks dead,” she laughed, kicking his foot.  
“He’s just unconscious,” Ivy scowled at her. “I’ve been waiting for him to finally pass out. I didn’t think it would take so long. Stubborn male!”  
“Look how young and sweet he looks all asleep!” Harley clasped her hands over her chest and fluttered her eye lashes. Ivy rolled her eyes. Harley sighed, dropping the act. “So what are we supposed to do with him?”  
“Move him to the new safe house,” Ivy replied. “It’ll be easier with him asleep. We won’t have to blind fold him.”  
“Move! Again!?”  
“Batman’s sure to be closing in on this location. We don’t want big bad daddy bats crashing our party,” Ivy sneered. “I still have lots more ideas I want to try with this one. He’s to beautiful a specimen to let go just yet.”  
Harley’s hand snuck towards the vigilante’s mask as the red head spoke.  
“Harley!” Ivy barked.  
“Darn it!” She pouted, pulling back.  
“Taking it now won’t make a difference. You won’t be able to see his eyes.”  
Harley shrugged. “Souvenir?”  
“No. Make sure he’s chained. We need to go get the other safe house ready and move him as quickly as possible. I doubt he’ll be waking up any time soon.” Ivy remarked, turning away to start packing up their meager belongings.  
//////////  
“How long is he gonna stay out?” Harley whined. “It’s boring around here when he’s asleep.”  
Ivy was beginning to wonder that herself. It had been nearly two days now. “He hadn’t slept in more than week before this, Harl. He’ll be out for a while. Why don’t you go out and do something if you’re so bored.”  
“Like what?”  
“I don’t know. Go terrorize the local arcade or something. We could use the money. Just don’t get caught or leave a trail back here.” Ivy warned.  
Harley perked up. “Games! I love games! What a great idea.” She smiled brightly, bounding up. “I’ll be back in a few hours, Red!”  
Ivy waved her out and smirked when the door slammed shut. “No you won’t.” She smiled wickedly and picked up the telephone. “Hello, dispatcher? Yes, there’s a blond haired woman terrorizing Gotham Knight Arcade. She looks like that girl that runs around with the Joker! Please get here quickly!” She hung up the phone with a flourish. “No more sharing.”  
//////////  
Nightwing woke up with a startled jerk. He felt like someone had hit the re-set button on his body and everything was fully functional again. He blinked his eyes a few times. His head felt clearer than it had in weeks. Apparently, he’d been asleep long enough for the drugs to start wearing off. Not entirely though. He still felt somewhat muzzy. He pushed himself into a sitting position. Chains clinked softly, not letting him get much further. He sighed softly. Still a pet then.  
“Awake finally?”  
He looked over to see Ivy lying next to him, giving him an amused smile. He was surprised to find her there. They didn’t usually stay close to him without ulterior motive. He reached up to check that his mask was still on, even though he could feel it. It cemented the fact in his mind and took away some of his worry. Harley’s attempted mask stealing was a constant worry. Ivy’s motives were unclear though, which was what bothered him. He’d been asleep so why would Ivy be here with him? He glanced around briefly. Just where was here anyways? It definitely wasn’t the same house. This place, just from the appearance of the bedroom, was in much better repair.  
“Change of scenery, darling. I figured it was best for our safety,” Ivy noticed his confused expression.  
His heart sank a little. The chance of being found had now slipped back to zero. He was sure Batman had been close to finding them if she felt it was necessary to abandon the previous safe house. Nightwing felt his hope starting to fade. How long would he have to endure this before he was lost completely; and not just to the outside world, but to himself?  
“I can see you’re thinking to much,” The red head frowned, drawing his attention back to her.  
He scowled at that. Anger surged through him. He was no one’s pet! He lunged at her, but was brought up short by the shackles. She smirked at his growl of frustration.  
“Temper. Temper,” she admonished playfully. “And here I was being a good owner to you by letting you sleep for two whole days. I even sent Harley away so you’d be left undisturbed.”  
He frowned. “Sent her away?”  
“Let’s just say someone made an anonymous tip to the police on where she could be found,” Ivy smiled smugly.  
“Why?”  
“Because I don’t like sharing.” Ivy sat up to look him in the eye. “And I didn’t like the way she was treating you.”  
He stared at her in shock. Was that why she was in here with him? Did she really enjoy his company that much? Had she really started to care for him as more than a pet? He was completely baffled by her behavior. He chewed his lip in thought as he glanced down. He hid the satisfied look on his face when he saw that her foot was within his reach. His hand darted out to grab her ankle and yank her to him. She gasped in surprise and fear as she was pulled underneath him. He grabbed her wrists with his hands and pinned her to the bed.  
“Let me go,” he snapped.  
“No,” she hissed. A sly smile curled at her lips. “Haven’t I been good to you? Fed you, bathed, you, and fulfilled all your basic animal needs?”  
“I’m not an animal!” He spat fiercely. “You can’t just put a collar on a person and own them!”  
She stared up at him. A flicker of emotion in her eyes almost made him draw back. There was more intensity in that gaze then he felt comfortable with trying to figure out. She rotated her wrists in his hands, but she couldn’t get loose. “Perhaps, you’re right. But I’m not ready to let you go.” She flexed her body, rubbing her pelvis against him. The hardness between his legs assured her that at least her lust drug was still having some effect. Or maybe he just got off on dominating her. It didn’t really matter. The move had brought on the desired effect.  
“I’ll set you free when I’m done with you.” She said. She didn’t think she ever would be though. He was addicting—perfect. She wanted to keep him and make him truly hers. She wanted to be able to taste and touch his body every day.  
“No you won’t,” he could read the truth in her eyes. Her words were only a ploy.  
“Would it really be so bad to stay as my pet?” She asked, the naked longing in her eyes made him pause. She realized she’d given to much of herself away. She rolled her hips against him once more, making him bite back a moan. “I could keep you satisfied…” She smirked, trying to divert his attention away from the damning statement she’d made.  
Lust was starting to blaze along every nerve. He tried to fight past it. Part of his reaction was from the drugs, he knew that. Another part though was from realizing that she truly wanted him. This wasn’t some game to her anymore—maybe it never had been. Part of him liked the idea of staying with her. He’d certainly never admit it. These past few weeks had been the simplest he’d had in years. He might have even enjoyed the time if not for the kinky sex with Harley, the humiliations of them pretending he was a pet, and the demeaning ways he was forced to behave. Most of the time, the sex had been thoroughly pleasurable; even some of the kinky shit Harley pulled on him to his dismay. He had a life though, as fucked up as it may seem to others. He had a family, who he knew was out hunting for him and probably worried into a frenzy. He missed being outside. He missed the freedom of gliding and jumping off buildings, and the triumph of beating up bad guys. He missed his freedom more than anything.  
“I can’t,” he said simply.  
Ivy didn’t look surprised. He did see a little disappointment. “I suppose I’ll have to make you stay then.”  
He tried to jerk his head way as she arched her head up to capture his mouth. She was already to close for him to avoid though. Her mouth caught his and a moment later the drugs were coursing through him. He didn’t forget this conversation between them, but it was instantly shoved aside at sudden rush of lust, need, and desperation exploding through him.  
Ivy smiled as she was watched his expression change. “Dominate me.” She whispered in his ear, making him shudder and growl wickedly at the amount of control she was handing to him. “No hurting me and you stop when I tell you.”  
He nodded, waiting for permission to start.  
“Go ahead,” she conceded.  
A predatory smile crossed his lips, and he did…  
//////////  
Things had been different since Harley had disappeared. Ivy had toned down on treating him like an oversized dog. She had begun treating him more like a person. She asked him questions now. She wanted him to talk to her. He got to pick the music that played on the radio. They were doing things together that reminded him things newlyweds would do. Things like spending more than hour in the bathtub together, just lying there enjoying the soak and then fucking like rabbits. He cooked for her every once in a while now. He slept on the bed next to her, which would have never been allowed while Harley was around. It was like Ivy had been restraining herself while the blond was there. There was no question as to the fact that she cared for Nightwing now. It was pretty damn obvious.  
The days had begun to blur together in a haze of wonderful touching, sex, and companionship. He might have even felt like he wasn’t a prisoner except that he was still so heavily drugged he couldn’t fully enjoy the intimacy he was receiving. He wished his mind was more his own. Maybe then he wouldn’t feel resentful about how she was keeping him trapped there. Which was a weird thought, because that would mean he’d want to stay on his own. Huh? He wasn’t really sure what that meant for him. All he knew was that he was really beginning to like being this close to someone. It was a luxury he’d never had the chance to take part in until now. Things like having a regular boyfriend or girlfriend had never really been with in his ability to maintain. His life was just to freaking complicated for it. He and Barbara had been attempting to make a go at dating. He had thought he was in love with Barbara. They still hadn’t been able to spend this kind of time together.  
So yes, he was genuinely beginning to like being with Ivy.  
What started making him suspicious was when Ivy started using less drugs on him. The first time it happened he thought that perhaps she’d simply forgotten to dose him. He didn’t think that was really possible though. She kept him on such a tight schedule with those drugs and she had never once forgotten. Yet, she skipped a dose. His head felt a little clearer within hours. As the days passed, she weaned him off the drugs little by little. There was still enough in his system to make him obey, but if he really fought he probably could have gotten around them. For some reason, though, he didn’t really think to fight it. He just appreciated being able to think almost clearly. She’d almost completely stopped giving him the sex pollen. Truth be told, he didn’t need it in order to get it up with her. Ivy was fucking beautiful, just watching the sway of her hips made him hard. It was Harley that he needed the pollen with, because some of the stuff she’d done to him would have made him limp in seconds.  
It had been several days now since she’d been keeping him less drugged, but no less shackled. They were lying in bed together as the dark of night settled around the city outside. It was calm and quiet outside the windows. Crickets chirped and the grass rustled in the breeze, but the world was still. Beside him, Ivy was so still and relaxed; he thought for sure she had fallen asleep.  
“Have you ever been in love?” her voice startled him in the darkness.  
Nightwing blinked in surprise. He was a little taken aback by the choice of topic. “Yes,” he answered. He may have become chattier since the drugs had been lessened, but truthful answers were still kept short.  
“Did you make love to her?”  
“Yes.”  
Ivy reached over and unchained him. She grabbed his hand and guided him to lie on top of her. He stared down at her in astonishment. He could count on one hand the number of times she’d allowed him to lay on top of her since he’d been here. “Make love to me.” She whispered. It was supposed to be an order, but it sounded like a plea.  
“What?” He was completely thrown off by the weird request.  
“I want to know what it feels like to be made love to,” She whispered just a touch sadly.  
“I don’t th--.”  
She kissed him softly. “Pretend I’m her if you have to.”  
“Ok,” he conceded, because he had too. The drugs still made him want to please her. He didn’t think he could do this though. It was such a weird request. It was also very out of character for Ivy, who prided herself on being independent. Why did she suddenly want something like this?  
“Nightwing,” She prompted a touch irritably.  
He nodded and closed his eyes. He needed to get his head in the right place to fulfill a request like this one. He thought of Barbara and the one time he’d made love to her so far. She’d been so soft. He envisioned her red hair fanned out on the pillow. He remembered the sweet sounds of her gasps and sighs, nothing like the sound he ever heard from Ivy. The memory of having Barbara swept over him. When he opened his eyes he could almost see Barbara beneath him, not Ivy. But then those eyes blinked, becoming emerald green and not the brilliant blue he’d imagined. To his mild surprise, he realized he didn’t need the thoughts of Barbara. He already felt connected to Ivy. He even thought she was more beautiful than Barbara. He knew every inch of Ivy’s skin like it was his own. He couldn’t say the same about the other red head he knew. He decided he would make love to Ivy as much sincerity and honesty as he could. There’d be no imagining in this moment.  
He leaned down and kissed Ivy with all the passion that he usually restrained or never put into their sessions together. He smiled against her lips when he felt her shiver underneath him, then reach up to wind her arms around his neck. He kissed her like he’d been wanting to for a while now. The notion had there in the back of his mind, but now that he could it was like relief and release. He kissed her slow and deep. For the first time, he dared to sweep his tongue into her mouth to taste her. A moan hummed from his throat as he flavor burst across his taste buds. It was like an exotic drink; something flowery, earthy, and rich. He wanted more.  
She whimpered as his kisses took on a fierce edge of desire and hunger. She buried her fingers in his silky hair to him close. It was her chance to finally pretend that he loved her. This moment was what she’d been longing for since she captured him. And she knew beyond any doubt or denial that she was completely in love with him. When he broke away to gasp for air, she caught a glimpse of the look on his face. It wasn’t that of someone with their eyes shut and pretending. No, he was looking at her. It wasn’t the drugs making him act that way either. She hadn’t given him any of the sex pollen today. The mind controlling drugs couldn’t make him display those kinds of emotions either. She stared in shock, but had no more time to dwell on it.  
His mouth found her neck to leave a trail of kisses and nips down to her clavicle. His hands slid down her chest to cup her breasts. His thumbs rubbed slow circles over her nipples, making her gasp. Another whimper escaped her as his mouth moved lower to her breasts. Each kiss and touch was like gasoline being thrown on a swiftly growing fire. She arched up into his mouth as her hands slipped from his hair to his shoulders blades to hold on tight.  
His passion was contagious. She was losing her senses in him. His mouth closed over one rose pink nipple to suckle gently. Her whole body shuddered as his tongue flickered over the top of her hardened peak. He switched to the other nipple, paying it equal attention. His free hand snuck lower. He tickled over his navel before parting her folds. She bucked automatically with the first rub of his finger over her clit. He worked his fingers, slow and soft over her sensitive flesh. He was careful in a way no one had ever been to her. The blazing pleasure coursing thick in her veins was pooling low in her belly. It felt like every fiber of her being was focused on her lower half.  
His mouth moved away from her breasts. He left a trail of kisses down her ribs and over her smooth stomach. He paused for a moment to rest his cheek on her belly. Her skin was so soft and warm there. He breathed in the floral scent of her skin; earthy and sweet. It was uniquely her, just like her taste. He nuzzled his cheek against her skin and smiled at the slight laugh it caused. His fingers slid lower, pressing gently against her opening as he continued to rub her clit with his thumb. She moaned breathlessly as he slipped two fingers inside her. He groaned quietly, as her walls clamped down on his fingers. His cock twitched hard with arousal and drooled pre-cum onto the sheets. He wanted to be inside her so badly. He forced himself to talk a deep breath and concentrate. He knew she was getting close. He could wait. He slid lower so his mouth could take over the job that his thumb was doing. He closed his eyes and willed himself not to come all over the sheets. The smell of her sex was so strong, musky and still slightly flowery. She tasted as good as she smelled. He could lose himself in this woman. He was dangerously close to it.  
Her gasps and whimpers grew louder as he worked her ever closer to her peak. He smiled as she stilled, waiting for her to come. A second later, she cried out sharply as her climax swept over her. He leaned up to watch her face as ecstasy and something akin to awe passed over her face. He was pleased to be the one to make her react like that. He gave her a few moments to recover as he re-positioned himself. He nudged her thighs apart so he could rest comfortably between her legs and drop his chest on top of hers lightly. She opened her eyes and smiled at him.  
Damn, he thought. She was so beautiful. And he was so screwed. She’d gotten to him. More than he had dared to let anyone ever get to him. She hadn’t even been trying. He had no idea what he was supposed to do about it. It didn’t really matter at the moment. He wanted her. Wanted to be inside of her.  
He kissed her with nearly bruising force as desire over took him. She gasped, feeling like she was drowning in his intensity. He guided her legs up to wrap around his waist as he pressed down into her. Their bodies merged like pieces of a puzzle sliding into place. Every inch of them was as close as they could be, skin to skin. She’d never felt closer to anyone in her life. He was inside her, over her, and around her all at once. She felt possessed and thoroughly wanted. She buried her face in his throat as he began to rock into her. He set a steady rhythm with sharp snaps of his hips. He wrapped his arms underneath her shoulders and breathed hot into her ear. She couldn’t hold back to shivery whimpers he was dragging out of her with each roll of his hips. Every thrust was perfectly aimed for maximum pleasure. It was overwhelming her. Every stroke was another notch up in almost unbearable ecstasy.  
Nightwing moaned heavy in the back of his throat as she flexed underneath him like a cat with every thrust. Her body was so perfect. He wanted to hold her like this always; to feel this intimacy so intensely with her. No one had ever given this much of themselves to him. He tried not to think what that meant for either of them.  
Both of them were getting close. He could feel it in the tightening of her body and hear it in her voice. She could feel it in the shudder of his thighs and hips. They found completion at almost the same second. She came with sharp gasp a heartbeat before him. Her whole body tensed and arched up into him. Her fingers dug into his sides almost painfully. All of it sent him spiraling over the edge. The pleasure seemed to go on forever, but be over far to quickly.  
They came down slowly, holding each other tightly. He shifted enough to pull out of her gently. She sighed sadly at the loss. He smiled at that, rolling onto his side but keeping her in his arms. They lay curled around each other. She closed her eyes and slowly drifted to sleep. He watched her face relax into contentment. It was the first time she had not chained him back up after they were done. He settled his head onto the pillow, letting himself fall asleep beside her. In his heart, he knew something fundamental had changed between them.  
/////////  
Nightwing was stretched out across an old beach towel. It was a beautiful warm, sunny day in Gotham. Spring was finally starting to fully blossom in the gloomy city. It had definitely been to nice to stay indoors. Nightwing had been so grateful when Ivy picked up his leash and walked him out onto the porch. She didn’t let him outside very often even with the privacy fence around the old house. She’d given him the towel and motioned to the porch before settling down in the camping chair she’d unfolded. He laid sprawled out on his back, one hand dangling over the edge of the porch, and the other hand resting on his belly. The sun felt wonderful on his pale skin. It felt like it’d been a very long time since he’d last felt it. A few feet away from, Ivy turned the page of the newspaper she was reading. The handle of the leash was looped around her wrist, still connecting him to her. He was never far away from her. A light breeze rustled the grass and played through his short hair. He sighed contentedly. He could stay here forever with her like this…  
He blinked. Something about that thought felt wrong. He ignored the niggling doubt and went back to thoughtlessness as he watched the grass wave in the wind.  
“Have you ever thought about just getting away from it all?” The sudden question from Ivy had him turning his head to look at her.  
He didn’t answer for a long moment. That was a weird question to be asking him. “Many times.”  
“Why didn’t you?” She asked curiously, folding the paper down to meet his gaze.  
“The Mission.” He replied. “That’s what Batman calls it.”  
She arched an eyebrow. “You heroes and your righteous sense of justice. Why bother?”  
He couldn’t help but smile about that. “It feels good to help people.” He admitted.  
“I only ever wanted to save the world,” Ivy remarked. “Humanity is destroying everything and so few do anything to stop it.”  
Honestly, he had to agree about that one. She had a good point. It had been the methods she’d gone about it that had been evil and twisted. He wondered if she was starting to regret what she’d done.  
“I want to go back to growing things. Just to grow them, not to harm,” She continued talking as though to herself. “I miss the soil in my fingers, watching flowers bloom, and the smell of the earth all around me.”  
He didn’t know why he reached out, but he felt like he needed to. His hand brushed her ankle and curled around the slender limb. He stroked her skin soothingly. She looked down in surprise at his display of affection. A soft smile graced her lips.  
“Maybe I will get away.” She whispered, hands curling around the newspaper. “Somewhere warm and perfect for starting over.”  
He squeezed her ankle gently before withdrawing his hand and placing it back on his belly. She lifted the newspaper and went back to reading. He relaxed once again. Moments later he dozed off. He didn’t see the sad smile she gave him or the expression of regret that passed over her face.  
“I think it’s almost time to let you go,” She murmured forlornly.  
//////////  
Their sex had gone from just physical release to something else entirely since he had made love to her. Everything felt so much more intimate. They let themselves get swept away in it. Nightwing knew he was letting these feelings lull him into a dangerously vulnerable position. He was taking what he could get for as long as possible. He knew she was planning something. Their time would be coming to an end soon. He could sense that. He was making the most of the time they had left.  
He kissed her as he pressed her down onto the bed. Her fingers accidentally brushed across the domino mask as she reached up to bury them in his hair. They both flinched back at the touch, a little alarmed and nervous. Nightwing let the tension drain out of him. He was tired of all of this. Tired of wearing the damn mask, tired of being nothing but a prisoner, and tired of pretending that whatever this was between them was imaginary. He caught her hand in his and brought it back to his face. He pressed her fingers to the corner of his mask. He knew he wasn’t thinking clearly. He really didn’t care. He wanted the damn thing off. He wanted to look at her without a white screen between them. He wanted to look into her eyes and know she was looking back.  
“Take it off,” he whispered, almost in a plea.  
“But…” She didn’t really want to know. She’d had her moments of curiosity, but after everything between them, she found she really didn’t want to know. If she did…  
He curled her fingers around the edge. “Please.”  
“I don’t want to know your name.” She murmured. That would make this to real.  
“No name.” He agreed softly.  
Her nails caught on the edge and pulled. Whatever it was that kept the thing adhered to his face took a little more effort than she was expecting. She yanked sharply, making him wince, but the mask came free. It fluttered away onto the floor, forgotten by both of them. Ivy stared up at the man hovering over her. Her throat felt tight as she looked into his eyes the first time. They were so deep blue, like the darkness drifting over a lake or the edge of twilight. How could a mask hide so much about a person? Her fingers fluttered over the soft arches of his eyebrows. He had such long, black lashes too. There was so much emotion in those eyes that had been hidden under that mask. Now she could see them all and it stole her breath away.  
“Ivy?”  
Even his voice sounded different now that the mask was off. It was warmer, richer and sent tingles down her body. She pulled him down to her and kissed him. She wished she’d left the mask on. She wasn’t supposed to feel this much for him. Without the mask, he was no longer a pet. He was a man. And the desire for him only increased 100 times over.  
“Make love to me,” she whispered against his ear. She felt the smile curve onto his lips. He was more than happy to do as he was told.  
//////////  
Hours later, she got off of the bed quietly. She didn’t want to disturb him. She couldn’t stay here with him any longer. Things had changed to much between them. She felt to much for him now. It was time for him to go back home and for her to leave. She’d been planning it for months. She had everything prepared. A new life and identity awaited her. All she had to do was slip into it and never look back. She glanced over to watch him sleeping. With the mask gone, he looked so very young. She wondered for the first time how old he truly was; mid-twenties maybe? She had to be at least ten years his senior.  
She sighed. “You’re to good for me, handsome boy.”  
He stirred slightly and she slipped out of the room before she accidentally woke him. She had to get things ready for her departure. That meant leaving clues for the Batman to find his bird. That would be easy enough. She needed to be long gone by the time he arrived though.  
An hour later, found her returning to the house. Everything was taken care of just as she’d planned. There was no baggage to pack, only the few precious plants she wanted to take with her. Those were loaded quickly and carefully into the trunk of her car—secured with bungee cords and cardboard boxes. At last, she was ready to go.  
She stood in front of the house, hesitating on whether to say good bye. She didn’t have much time before Batman arrived. She couldn’t just leave though. They’d spent two wonderful months together. He deserved a good bye. She strode purposefully back into the house and to the back bedroom. He was still sleeping peacefully where she’d left him. She bent over to pick up the mask lying discarded on the floor. It felt so flimsy in her hand. How could such a little thing hide such beautiful eyes?  
Nightwing stirred lightly on the bed. “Ivy?”  
“Yes,” she answered, walking over to stand next to him. She had to see his eyes one more time. Those deep blue depths were clouded from sleep. “Don’t move,” she whispered. He started when she pushed the needle into his arm and depressed the plunger.  
“Ivy?” His voice was thick as the tranquilizer swiftly stole his consciousness away.  
“Goodbye, Nightwing.” She whispered, pressing a kiss to his lips before his eyes drifted shut completely. She placed the mask back over his eyes. She straightened up and looked down at him for another long moment. She turned away before she could begin to regret anything. She pulled an envelope from the night stand and placed it on the table top. She left the room without glancing back.  
Her hands didn’t start to shake until she was 20 miles outside of Gotham City. She refused to look back.  
//////////  
Batman looked up in surprise as Nightwing’s GPS began to blink brightly on his computer screen. It was to good to be true. Hope spiked in his chest before he could quell it. He ran some frantic checks on the signal to determine if it was real. The GPS signal was definitely not a fake. Why had it started now though? He wouldn’t know until he went to find it. It could be a trap or another false lead. He had to know for sure. He got to his feet quickly and stalked quickly towards the Batmobile.  
“Robin!” He barked, startling the boy and nearly making him fall from the monkey bars where he’d been practicing. “We have a lead on Nightwing.”  
Robin sighed in relief and ran after him towards the car. “About time!”  
Moments later the car was racing out of the cave.  
//////////  
Batman knelt in the empty parking lot to pick up the little black GPS that had been left here along with a note. All that was scribbled onto the bit of paper was an address. One that he knew would lead into the suburbs on the north side of town. Not exactly the best part of town, but certainly better than many other places in Gotham. Robin stepped out of his way as he hurried back to the Batmobile and trailed behind him. He didn’t bother to mention the weird feeling this whole ordeal was giving him. He knew Batman was just as worried and cautiously hopeful .  
The big black vehicle zoomed through the streets, disregarding traffic laws and making the trip uptown in record time. The address brought them to a house with a for sale sign sitting out front. The house wasn’t in bad repair, but it looked like it could use some TLC. It was the perfect place for a hide out; non-descript and blending in seamlessly to neighborhood. There were no lights on and no movement inside. It was suspiciously quiet.  
The two vigilantes moved up the walk to the house slowly. There were no signs of booby traps. Batman kicked in the door and moved inside swiftly. A moving target was harder to hit. He took in the interior with quick, scanning glances. Beside him, Robin did the same with a baterang in hand. Nothing moved. There was still no sound. Not a clue to prove that anyone was there. It looked as though someone had left very recently. Batman felt despair threatening to rise up in him. This couldn’t be another dead end.  
He moved through the house and checked each room thoroughly and found nothing but emptiness. Robin moved with him, watching his back. One more door to check. It was locked. Batman frowned at the oddity. It was the only clue that something was out of place. He broke down the door and ran into the room. Shock, relief, and anger flood through him at once at the sight of the figure on the bed.  
Batman took in the entire scene in less than a second. Nightwing was sprawled across the bed on his back, naked and completely unconscious. His wrists were shackled and chained to the posts on the bed. He wore a black leather dog collar around his neck with a silver tag on it. His hair had been cut down close to his head. To Batman’s relief, Nightwing’s mask was still in place. What was disturbing was how well Nightwing looked; like he’d been pampered and well cared for. After a month and a half in captivity, Batman had been more than a little apprehensive about what he might find. His worst fear had been only finding a body. He had expected to find Nightwing at least bloodied and probably tortured. This was not at all what he expected. Batman narrowed his eyes at the collar. It looked like the young man had been treated just like Harley had claimed.  
Batman stepped further into the room with Robin practically on his heels. The boy paused in the doorway staring at the young man on the bed. For Robin, it was scary and a little traumatizing to see Nightwing like this. Dick was like his older brother. To see him shackled and left like this was unnerving. An envelope on the nightstand caught Batman’s eye. He walked over and picked it up gingerly. No powder fell from it like he half expected. He tore it open and shook out the page gently. Again, there was no powder. He frowned a little at that. He unfolded the paper and read it quickly.  
“Dear Batman,  
Thank you for so generously lending us (Harley and I) your precious bird. He was a wonderful pet. He behaved so well we hardly had to punish him at all. So don’t worry to much, Batman. He was well taken care of and we thoroughly enjoyed him…every inch of him. Despite my utter reluctance to do so I’m giving him back to you. I’m leaving Gotham and not returning. I didn’t think it fair to take him with me. The remaining drugs in his system will have no harmful side effects except perhaps a few days of over arousal from the sex pollen. The mind altering drug may take longer to wear off from how much has been in his system for so long. Water and sleep should fix that easily. When he wakes up, tell him he was a good boy for me and I will miss him dearly. Oh, and please don’t come looking for me. I have no desire to be involved with you or Gotham any further. Thanks for all the good times Batman. I hope I never see you again.  
Sincerely,  
Poison Ivy”  
Batman frowned as he finished the letter and handed it to Robin for safe keeping. He moved closer to the bed before cautiously reaching out to grip Nightwing’s shoulder. The young man jerked awake and bolted up right, grabbing his hand. Batman ignored the way the bones in his hand ground together as Nightwing looked around wildly.  
“Ivy!?” He cried in alarm. She was nowhere in sight. He turned his head, to see Batman staring down at him. “Batman.” He breathed. Panic suddenly hit him. If Batman was here, he’d gotten Ivy. Ivy! “Where is she!?” Nightwing half shouted in fear.  
Batman scowled. “She’s not here. She left and gave us clues to find you.”  
Nightwing forced himself to calm down and try to get past the fog in his head. The drugs in his system were desperately trying to force him to get up and go find her. He was hers. And she’d left him. How could she leave him? His hands started to shake. Batman was here now. She’d left him and led Batman here. How could she just leave him? But that wasn’t him thinking that, or so he tried to convince himself. He was free. It was alright now…  
“She never mentioned anything about leaving Gotham?” Batman asked quietly.  
“No,” he shook his head, lying instinctively as his thoughts still whirling. He was getting a migraine. He hadn’t thought this hard or this much in a long time. “She’d been acting weird for the last week. Lowering the drug dosage, treating me more like a person, talking to me, and being more intimate in the way she acted towards me. She never indicated that she was leaving though.” He wasn’t going to give Batman any clues to find her. She was his to find.  
“She really just left you here?” Robin was totally not buying this. “There has to be some catch. I mean, she uses you for…whatever, for more than a month and just decides to skip town. It doesn’t add up.”  
Nightwing was beginning to tremble slightly much to his chagrin and anger. He’d been longing to be released since he was captured. Now the drugs in his system were making him betray himself by being upset and sickened that she’d left him. Or was it really the drugs making him feel this way? Who was supposed to take care of him now? Feed him, bath him, touch him…He curled up, shoving his face into his knees and burying his hands in his hair. He forced himself to take long, deep breaths and fight past the drugs and his own fear.  
“Dick,” Batman said softly, almost gently. “We need to know what happened, but for now it can wait. Let’s get you home.”  
Nightwing uncurled a little and looked up. “Home,” he smiled. His home was with Bruce, Tim, and Alfred back at the manor. He knew that. He was ready to go back. That was his true home. She wasn’t his home…  
Robin yanked off his cape and held it out for Nightwing. “Dude, just put this on at least. Your nakedness is freaking me out.”  
Nightwing finally smiled at that. Ah, Tim. He sat still as Batman uncuffed him from the shackles. He automatically rubbed his wrists as the heavy metal fell away. It felt weird to feel his skin there again. He jerked back when Batman reached for the collar. “Leave it on!” He snapped angrily.  
The two vigilantes stared at him in surprise.  
“Fine,” Batman backed off. “Let’s get out of here.”  
They led him out of the house towards the Batmobile. Nightwing paused and turned back to look at the house. It all felt like some kind of weird dream now. He felt like he’d imagined the Ivy who had stayed there with them. Images of their time spent together flashed through his mind. He took a long, shuddering breath. Something like mourning was swelling in his chest and making it hard to breathe. She’d left him. It was all over. No more nights spent curled together. No more soft touches, smiles, and kisses. No more singing to her as they soaked in the tub. Had any of it been real?  
Two months were gone so suddenly.  
“Nightwing?” Robin stood at his elbow.  
The older vigilante flinched. “It’s really over.”  
“Yeah.” The boy said. “I’m glad we found you. We were really worried.”  
Nightwing looked down at Robin’s earnest face and smiled wanly. “I’m back now.”  
“Good. Let’s go home.” Robin reached up grasp his arm.  
“Yeah.”  
It was all over.  
She was gone.  
He refused to cry.  
//////////  
To Be Finished…  
Be a Responsible Reader and Review!


	2. Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The after effects of Nightwing's capture and Ivy's escape to normalcy. 
> 
> This chapter is for krystina, who asked me to update. I actually had this posted on FF.net already. I feel terrible I forgot to post it here. My apologies.
> 
> Warning: There is guy/guy in this chapter. It is explicit. I will mark it so you can skip it if you wish. So no getting upset with me for something you didn't want to read. I gave you fair warning.

Part Two

 

Let me know that I've done wrong,  
When I've known this all along,  
I go around a time or two,  
Just to waste my time with you.  
Tell me all that you've thrown away,  
Find out games you don't wanna play,  
You are the only one that needs to know-  
I'll keep you my dirty little secret,  
(Dirty little secret)  
Don't tell anyone or you`ll be just another regret,  
(Just another regret, hope that you can keep it)  
My dirty little secret,  
Who has to know?  
When we live such fragile lives,  
It's the best way we survive,  
I go around a time or two,  
Just to waste my time with you,  
Tell me all that you've thrown away,  
find out games you don't wanna play,  
you are the only one that needs to know-  
I'll keep you my dirty little secret,  
(Dirty little secret)  
Don't tell anyone or you'll be just another regret,  
(Just another regret, hope that you can keep it)  
My dirty little secret.  
Who has to know?  
The way she feels inside (inside!)  
Those thoughts I can't deny (can't deny!)  
These sleeping thoughts won't lie (won't lie!)  
And all I've tried to hide  
It's eating me apart  
Trace this life back!  
I'll keep you my dirty little secret,  
(Dirty little secret)  
Don't tell anyone or you'll be just another regret.  
(Just another regret)  
I'll keep you my dirty little secret,  
Don't tell anyone or you'll be just another regret,  
(Just another regret, hope that you can keep it)  
My dirty little secret,  
Dirty little secret,  
Dirty little secret.  
Who has to know?  
Who has to know?  
-Dirty Little Secret, By: The All American Rejects  
/  
Dick Grayson had been home for three days now. He had stayed mostly in his room since he returned. After two months in captivity, it felt strange to be able to move around on his own. He almost felt like he wasn't supposed to. The notion was really ridiculous. Yet, he felt the same about wearing clothes. He'd actually enjoyed being naked after a while. He managed to make himself keep pants on when Tim and Alfred came in to check on him. He could tell they were really worried about him. He couldn't blame them. Soon as he had gotten to his room in the Manor, he had slept nearly two days solid, in the nude and still wearing his collar. The third day, he had showered by himself (strange as well), he finally put pants on, and curled back up in his bed. The drugs were still circulating through his system. The sex pollen was gone, but the mind altering drug was not. He still felt compelled to go find Ivy. He needed her to take care of him. He felt lost and alone. He knew he had been independent for years, but somehow two months had vastly altered him.  
He fingered the collar, trying to find the will power to take it off. He remembered abhorring the feel of it and the very meaning for why he wore it. Now it was his last connection to Ivy. He didn't know if he had the strength to take it off. He glanced over at Tim, who was sitting at the desk in Dick's room working on his homework. Maybe he should ask Tim to take it off. His hand fell away from the collar. He'd leave it on a little longer.  
He was glad that Tim had taken to staying in his room as much as possible. Right now, he needed the closeness. He was tactile, but years of living with Bruce Wayne had made him suppress it. After spending so much time in constant company and contact, he needed to have someone near him. At least, until he settled back down and got back to acting like himself. He was thankful that Tim could be very perceptive at times.  
"Hey, Dick? Do you know how to do this one algebra formula?" Tim asked.  
Dick stood up and dragged a chair over to Tim's side. Perceptive little shit indeed, Dick thought with a smile. He knew Tim really didn't need his help. The kid was very smart. Dick knew he was being offered the chance for some much needed closeness. If he sat so close that their legs touched and leaned into Tim when he pointed out advice, Tim didn't mention it.  
Thank God for Tim.  
/  
It had been a week since Dick had returned. He was finally moving around Wayne Manor freely. Bruce could only assume that all of the mind altering drug had finally worked itself out of Dick's system. He was not acting so out of character anymore. He was still acting depressed and wearing that damned collar. At least, Dick was fully clothed now, albeit leaving his shirts unbuttoned and loose at the cuffs. Bruce had tried a few times to approach Dick about what had happened, but the younger man didn't want to talk about it. Trying to mention that he needed to find Poison Ivy had only made Dick even more reticent in talking to Bruce. The older man had no idea if Dick was just to ashamed of what happened to speak about it or if there was something else preventing him from opening up to Bruce. Bruce was running out of patience. Every day, Poison Ivy's trail was growing colder. It irked him to no end. Bruce finally decided to turn to his next best hope at gaining the information he needed from Dick.  
That was why Tim was looking at him with that damned stubborn look.  
"Talk to him," Bruce said curtly.  
Tim frowned. "Why me? He's your son."  
"He'll take to you more easily," Bruce replied, sounding a touch annoyed about that. "We need to know what happened."  
"So we can help him get over this weird sulk?"  
"Exactly. I need to know if there was any permanent damage done to him. If he suffered some kind of psychological trauma." Bruce explained.  
"What makes you think he'll tell me?"  
"He likes you. And you're not going out on patrol until you talk to him." Bruce said.  
"Alright, I gotcha. I'll go talk to him." Tim sighed. He really didn't want to end up as the go between in this crappy situation. Dick trusted him. The last thing he wanted to do was make Dick feel like Tim had betrayed him by blabbing his mouth to Bruce. But Bruce was right. They needed to figure out what was wrong with Dick. Seeing Dick act so weird was seriously beginning to creep Tim out. He hoped Dick would forgive him for going behind his back like this.  
/  
Tim found Dick in his room. Thankfully, Dick wasn't curled up in his bed. That would have made this talk so much more awkward. Dick was sitting on the loveseat with his legs stretched out in front of him, listening to the radio and staring out the window.  
"Hey, Dick," Tim plopped down next to the older vigilante.  
Dick glanced over and smiled. "Hey Timmy."  
"Don't call me that," the boy scowled.  
Dick smiled wider. He really loved picking on the boy. He liked getting a reaction out of Tim, especially since he was trying to act so grown up lately.  
"So, uh, how are you?" Tim asked carefully.  
"I'm fine, Tim."  
"You've been acting weird since you came back."  
Dick snorted in amusement. "Yeah."  
"Like moping and stuff."  
"Yeah, I know."  
"Do you miss them?" Tim asked cautiously.  
Dick turned his head so he could scrutinize the other boy more thoroughly. He had a feeling Bruce had probably set Tim up to this. He couldn't really blame Bruce if he had. There was no way he was gonna tell Bruce even half of the stuff that had happened to him when he was with Harley and Ivy. He did need someone to talk to. Tim was the closest person he had to him now. Whether he went and ran his mouth to Bruce didn't really bother Dick so much. At least, he wouldn't have to tell it to Bruce personally. If Tim was offering to listen though, Dick was grateful for that.  
"I don't miss Harley," he replied. "She treated me like crap most of the time. She took out her boredom and frustration on me. My experiences with her…though sometimes pleasurable, were torture."  
"Torture? She hurt you?" Tim clenched his fists as anger bubbled up in him. He was gonna beat that bitch clown's face in next time he saw her. He didn't miss the fact that Dick didn't say anything about not missing Ivy.  
"Not in the way you normally think of torture. I just don't have a better word for it." Dick attempted to rectify his previous statement.  
"What way then?"  
"She was a kinky bitch," he quirked a sideways smirk.  
Tim made a grossed out face. "Like whips and stuff?"  
"Like choking and stuff," Dick corrected, and laughed at the younger boy's horrified look.  
"Ivy never did that?" Tim inquired curiously.  
"No. Ivy never hurt me, except once but I deserved that. I almost broke Harley's arm when she tried to steal me mask." The older vigilante replied. "Ivy treated me very well."  
Tim chuckled. "Good. Is that why you got to keep your mask?"  
"Mostly. I think Ivy just didn't want to know…," Dick frowned as he thought about that. He remembered the feel of her fingers on his face as she tore the mask off. He shivered as he recalled the awed look on her face and the desperate way they'd made love after that. The last time they'd made love, except he hadn't known that it was. "She liked things the way they were between us. It was uncomplicated, especially after she got rid of Harley."  
"She was the one who turned in Harley?" Tim was incredulous.  
"Yeah, she didn't like sharing me," Dick said absently, touching the collar on his neck. His mind was still hooked on those last few hours he'd spent with Ivy. Why had she chosen to leave him like that? Why hadn't she left some clue on how to find her? He'd thought they had something. Was it really the drugs that had made it seem that way? Had they really fucked with his mind that much? "Fucking drugs," he growled to himself. Then it dawned on him. "I could think then. She'd lowered the dosage. It couldn't have been the drugs…"  
"You said she lowered the dosage?" Tim said breaking into Dick's train of thought.  
"Yes," Dick replied.  
"How much?"  
Dick frowned as he thought about it. "I can't say for sure. Enough that I could start thinking more easily. I still answered to whatever commands she gave, but I was freer to move about on my own."  
"And you didn't try to escape?" Tim asked in bemusement.  
"No." Dick said, taken aback by the question. He honestly hadn't thought of it. He probably could have gotten away with the low levels of drugs in his system. He may have been tempted to return to Ivy, but he was certain he could have over came that. The thought of escaping had not even crossed his mind. He'd become used to the situation he had been in; even happy with it. In fact, he couldn't remember the last time he thought about really trying to escape before he'd been found. He'd become content in the role Ivy had placed him in. He'd let himself truly become her pet. He believed he'd become more than that to her though. He wasn't about to tell Tim that.  
"So were you really used just for-," Tim broke off, because he just couldn't get the word past his lips.  
Dick grinned mischievously. "For sex?"  
Tim flushed. "Yeah, that."  
"For Harley, yes. For Ivy, no. I was more like a dog and then later on a companion. We spent a lot of time just being together," Dick said wistfully. "It feels wrong, almost, not to have someone around me all the time." It felt weird to be doing things like showering alone. He hadn't been alone very much in the last two months. He certainly hadn't been alone while bathing. He actually missed being 'groomed.'  
"Groomed?" Tim asked in shock.  
Dick looked up. He hadn't realized he'd said that out loud. "Yeah…"  
"As in like dog grooming?" Tim looked slightly sickened.  
"Something like that. Ivy took pride in keeping me clean. She liked to groom me. I had a bath at least once a day," Dick explained reluctantly. He didn't tell Tim how she'd always been playing with his hair, brushing it or running her fingers through it. Or how she used to careful apply lotion to every inch of him after his bath. How that usually ended in a hand job for him or something better. He swallowed hard. Fuck, he missed her. He hated that he did, but he couldn't help it. No one had ever taken care of him like that since he was very little. He missed the attention, the feeling of hands on him, and never being alone. He'd learned to live with minimal contact, but the time with her had been wonderful for that part of him that enjoyed such things.  
"Did she give you that collar?" Tim asked curiously.  
Dick touched the tag with a bitter smile. "Sort of. It was a gift from both of them. It was Harley that put it on me."  
"So why don't you take it off?"  
Dick said quietly. "I can't make myself do it."  
Tim frowned. "Can't? But…" He didn't really want to know the answer to the why for that question. "I can take it off for you. If you want me to."  
Dick was silent for several minutes as he contemplated it. "Alright." He finally gave in. He needed someone else to take it off. Otherwise, he probably never would. He forced himself not to flinch away as Tim reached over and took the collar off. Dick went still as the leather began to loosen around his throat. Then suddenly it slid away and was gone completely. Dick took a deep breath. There was no constriction around his jugular for the first time in weeks. He felt relieved and sickened at the same time. A shudder raced through him at the nonsensical feeling of loss that washed over him. He looked down at the collar resting in Tim's hand. He reached out and gently took it from the boy. The last link to Ivy was gone. It no longer held the sense of connection now that it lay in his hand. It was like the final spell had been broken.  
He turned his head and buried his face in Tim's neck. He should have felt childish and foolish for doing such a thing, but right now he needed the comfort. Tim stiffened, clearly uncomfortable, but didn't push him away. He tentatively reached out to place an arm around his step brother's back. He allowed Dick to lean into him completely. Shudders rippled through Dick as he finally let his feelings catch up with him. He wasn't sure if he cried or not, but if he did, Tim pretended to ignore it.  
"Everything's gonna be ok, Dick," Tim said, because it was the only thing he could think to say.  
/  
"He misses her. It's really obvious. You ask him anything about Harley and everything he says is spiteful. Everything about Ivy is spoken with almost reverence." Tim told Bruce over lunch that afternoon, after relating the entire conversation. He'd left Dick to nap after he seemed to calm down. "At least, he let me finally take that collar off. That thing was creeping me out." He didn't mention how upset Dick was about it.  
"This is more serious than I think you realize," Alfred remarked. "He seems to be exhibiting classic symptoms of the Stockholm syndrome."  
Tim and Bruce looked at the butler with quickly dawning understanding.  
"Of course," Bruce sighed. "I should have suspected that. I had thought he was to smart to fall into that. It makes sense though. She showed him kindness. He was totally dependent on her. With the mind altering drugs her kindness would begin to seem like real caring."  
"So that's why Dick is defending her." Tim realized. "But if he's that attached to her this could get bad."  
Alfred set down the tea tray. "Given the situation he was held in and the nature of their 'interactions' it may be more than a case of attachments…on both their parts."  
"You're thinking he's in love with her?" Tim looked kinda horrified by the thought.  
"It is not unlikely," the butler remarked, pouring the tea.  
Bruce cringed. "People claim to be able to have sexual relationships without social or emotional attachments, but the reality is people are not capable of that. No matter the circumstances, sex is a bonding experience. It is highly possible, that Poison Ivy and Nightwing let sex become something more to them."  
"It's so creepy hearing you talk about sex," Tim shuddered dramatically. "So what do we do then?"  
"Watch him," Bruce responded simply. "We make sure he is not communicating or trying to locate her without us knowing."  
"Perhaps this will wear off," Alfred suggested. "We can at least be grateful she gave Master Dick back to us unharmed."  
"But not the same." Bruce sighed, getting up. "We need to find her. She needs to be brought to justice. Kidnapping and holding someone against their will is a crime—."  
"She didn't hurt me."  
They all turned to see Dick standing in the kitchen doorway, glaring at them.  
"It doesn't matter if she didn't hurt you." Bruce said calmly.  
Dick's scowl deepened. "I think it does. She wanted out of this life, so let her be out. She let me go and I'm fine. I don't want to find her if it means you are going to throw her back in Arkham. Leave her alone." He spun around and walked away, slamming the door shut behind him.  
"Oh dear," Alfred said softly. "I think you should speak to him, Master Bruce."  
Bruce knew he needed to. He'd been putting it off. He really had no idea how to talk to Dick about the situation. He had only been focused on finding Dick. He hadn't put much thought into what would happen after or how Dick would react. It had been hard to think about the future when all he worried about was Dick being dead in a back alley somewhere. Bringing him back home had been a huge relief. He supposed he had been foolish to think everything would just go back to normal. After nearly two months in captivity, of course, Dick wouldn't be the same.  
He stood up and left the kitchen. He headed to Dick's favorite place in the Manor. He wasn't surprised to find Dick sitting in the window seat of one of the many windows that covered the living room's west side. The young man was staring out the window with a brooding look on his face. The sun was pouring across the fields, turning the grass to a beautiful emerald green. Dew glistened on the grass where it hadn't yet been burned off by the morning light. The trees trembled in the slight breeze. It was a magnificent morning. To Dick, it probably looked like a fairy tale land after being kept indoors for so long.  
Bruce had searched frantically during those months. He kept hoping he'd find Dick. He had a hard time considering Dick might be dead. Every day, he had checked all his sources for any clue of where the young man could be. He had hoped he wouldn't find a dead body that matched Dick's description in Gotham Police reports. As the weeks passed it was harder not to despair. Whoever had taken Dick had left almost no clues to go on. He'd only able to deduce that Poison Ivy had a hand in Nightwing's disappearance from a small amount of plant scrapings he'd found on the warehouse floor. She had left no other trace. This time she had been very careful and thorough. He checked all the places that might lure her and found nothing. He waited for her to make an appearance or find some way to leave a ransom. She never did. She was behaving so out of character that it worried him even more.  
Guilt had gnawed at Bruce's insides. He should have been with Nightwing. He knew the younger vigilante thought he was more than capable to be out on his own. For the most part, Bruce trusted that judgment. He should have known better. He should have known something had gone wrong sooner. As the guilt continued to consume him, Bruce had hunted more frantically.  
His next best clue had come in the form of Harley Quinn. Someone had sent an anonymous call to the police matching Harley's description and the name of an arcade. Batman had picked up the radio chatter on his police scanner. He'd immediately responded. He found her easily and subdued her quickly. He had been about to leave her tied to a light pole when she'd spoken up. Normally, he'd ignore whatever taunts she made, but this time it wasn't a taunt.  
"If you think you can track my movements back to your Birdie boy, you're wrong," Harley sing-songed at his back.  
He'd whirled around and stalked back towards her. "What do you know about his disappearance?"  
"Oops. Shoulda kept my trap shut," she giggled sheepishly. "Cat's outta the bag!"  
"Tell me!" He snarled.  
She cringed. "No way! Red'll will kill me for ratting her out when she gets thrown back in Arkham!"  
He grabbed her by the front of her costume and shook her like a rag doll. "Tell me!"  
"Hey, hands! Watch where you put those hands!" She shrieked, terrified.  
He jerked her face up to his and growled. "Where is he?" He was considering snapping her neck if she didn't answer. He'd never felt so furious or so close to losing control.  
"Alright!" She cried, seeing the wild look in his eyes. "We have him at a safe house!" She spouted off an address.  
"What were you doing to him? If you harmed him in any way-!"  
"He's not hurt!" She gasped, when his hand closed around her neck. "He's being used for sex! He's just a toy!"  
Batman gritted his teeth at that. "You've kept him this whole time for that!"  
"Y-yeah! He's good at it. O-One of the best," she wheezed out and grinned lopsidedly.  
He dropped her without another word. He ignored her shriek of pain when she fell in a heap to the ground. He had a trail to pick up. The police would take care of her. The address had led him to a what had been a safe house. There had been no one there. Signs showed that the place had been very recently evacuated. The stupid little clowness had played him. He'd kept searching, but found nothing. He was only partially appeased to know that Dick had not been harmed. Still he had been held against his will by Poison Ivy and Harley. God knew what she had done to him. If Nightwing was being used as a toy he could only imagine some of the things they'd forced and subjected him to.  
More weeks had gone by, and then suddenly Ivy had given Nightwing up. It made him suspicious of her motives. Dick's weird behavior only set off his worries more. She had done something to the vigilante while he'd been in her clutches. He was determined to find and capture her. No one messed with his kids. Right now, though, he needed to help Dick. He had no idea how he was supposed to do that. He was bad at this kind of thing. The Tony Zucco incident had only brought that home to him.  
"I know you think I'm crazy for defending her," Dick's voice broke through Bruce's train of thought.  
Bruce walked closer. "Whatever it was she made you feel; it wasn't real, you know." He heard himself say.  
Dick nodded. "I know that's what you believe."  
"What happened?"  
"They treated me like a pet and used me for sex. They fed me, bathed me, and even gave me a futon the corner. I was like a big dog," Dick told his foster father quietly. "Harley was the one who tormented me, if you wanna call it that. Nothing to far, because Ivy stopped her."  
"Why?"  
"I don't know. She acted like she cared about me. She let me keep my mask and kept Harley from harassing me to much." He rested his head against the glass. "When Harley disappeared the dynamics changed. I was Ivy's and I was…content. She kept me less drugged. I probably could have escaped. I didn't want to. We were…intimate. She treated me like a person again. Then she was gone."  
Bruce could tell Dick was leaving a lot out of his story. He half wondered what Harley had done. He didn't really want to know though.  
"I was happy," Dick admitted.  
Bruce was surprised at that admission. "There is something to be said for finding freedom in capture. It's not unheard of to revel in the lack of responsibilities or choices one normally has to make in their life."  
"It wasn't like that," Dick said.  
The older man didn't pry for an answer. He knew Dick would keep talking if he felt like it.  
"I haven't been that close with someone in a long time. I mean, I've dated and I'm no virgin, but it was never like that. We were almost constantly together. Being around someone like that made me happy."  
Bruce finally got it. Dick had always been the tactile type. He'd grown up being touched in order to learn the trapeze. He had been close to the circus people and his parents in a hands on way that most people were not. He had to trust and live closely to the people around him in that life. Of course, he would miss that kind of attention and crave that kind of closeness again. Ivy had given it to him, not knowing how much he'd longed for that. So no wonder he missed her, had grown attached to her, and was so upset she had left him.  
"You have to let it go, Dick. It was all just an illusion. At best, she was using you," Bruce said as gently as possible.  
"Yeah." Dick murmured, wrapping his arms around himself. He didn't bother to tell Bruce he that's not how it was at all. Ivy hadn't been pretending like she cared. No one could fake the honest sincerity he saw in her eyes when she made love with him. He certainly couldn't pretend to himself that what he felt for her wasn't real. He knew he was screwed. "I know it wasn't real." Bile burned in the back of his throat at having to lie like that. "It was just a rough few months. Just leave her alone. Ok? I'll be alright. You guys can stop worrying so much about me."  
Bruce nodded. "Ok." He had no intention of letting up on his search for Poison Ivy.  
Both of them knew things were very far from being ok.  
/  
"Dick, what's been up with you lately?" Barbara asked, concern and worry clear in her voice and expression.  
Dick couldn't look at her when she made that face. Honestly, he'd been avoiding her as much as possible. She finally pinned him down here at the loft, while he was busy fine tuning his motorcycle. He really didn't want to be around her. He felt guilty and confused. A few months ago, he had been pretty sure he loved Barbara. Things had changed so drastically. He wasn't the same anymore. He kept his eyes resolutely focused on his motorcycle's motor. He pretended to keep on tinkering with it even though his mind was very far from it.  
"It's been a month since you came back. I know Bruce talked to you about the Stockholm syndrome, but you don't seem like you're getting over it, "She continued.  
He clenched his jaw, biting down on the irritated words that wanted to come out. He did not have Stockholm syndrome. He didn't give a fuck if Bruce or Barbara thought that's what was wrong with him. They wanted to believe that was what was wrong with him. It made it simpler to fix things in their minds. Barbara seemed to think he could just turn off what he'd felt during his time with Ivy. Maybe he could if it had only been him that felt something stronger than just attraction. "I'm fine," he bit out instead.  
"No, you're not! You're still acting like you miss her!" Barbara pressed.  
He did miss her! Fuck, how he missed her! He curled his hands into fists. He didn't want to admit that to Barbara.  
"It wasn't real, Dick," she whispered.  
Fury burned through him. He straightened up and threw down the tool he'd been using. None of them got it! None of them wanted to understand. He'd crossed a line when he'd been with Ivy. Bruce had done the same with Selena Kyle, and they all knew how that had turned out. All of them knew what happened when you got personally involved with the villains. He had gotten to close to Ivy. He couldn't just let her go. He wasn't like Bruce, who just pretended to shut out everything. He couldn't do what Barbara wanted and just act like nothing had ever happened. They were the ones who wanted everything to go back to being fine. Well he wasn't fucking fine! "All of you keep saying that, but none of you were there! You guys don't understand how it was for me or how I felt! Stop fucking assuming you get it!" He spat, glaring at her. She shrank back from him, completely surprised by the force of his anger. "You didn't see the way she touched me, held me, or took care of me! I was hers and I was fucking happy about it! None of you get that she actually did care about me!"  
Understanding was beginning to dawn on Barbara's face. "You're in love with her," she gasped in horror.  
Shit. Dick sighed heavily and ran his fingers through his hair. The fight drained out of him instantly. He hadn't meant to say all that; certainly not to Barbara of all people. He didn't want to give his feelings away like that. But Barbara had gone and said the words aloud. Now it was real to him. Everything he'd been denying, ignoring, and avoiding was staring him right in the face. He knew what he'd been feeling. He hadn't wanted to put a name to it. He glanced up to find her staring at him anxiously. "Yes," was all he could really say. It was to late now to take back everything he'd said.  
"That's why you haven't been able to look at me." She realized sadly. "I thought you loved me. I thought we finally had something."  
He couldn't stand to see the hurt on her face. "I thought so too. Honestly, I loved you Barbara," he admitted. "I didn't mean for this to happen. But I know I'm not imagining it and it's not some bi-product of Stockholm syndrome."  
"But how could you fall for her! She's twisted and evil!" Barbara exclaimed angrily.  
He smiled wanly. "No, she's not. She's lost and confused."  
"Dick, you've got to let this go." Barbara said quietly, clenching her fists. "Even if you don't love me anymore, you can't love her. You just can't!" She spun around and hurried out of the room.  
He sighed tiredly. He shouldn't have said anything to her. He should have kept his mouth shut like he'd been trying to. Barbara had always been able to get him to open up though. She was always the one finding the chinks in his emotional armor and digging at them until he caved. God, he hoped this wasn't the end of their friendship. They'd known each other since high school. He'd been in love with her since mid-way through college. Yet, somehow in two months Ivy had been able to make him fall completely in love with her. She hadn't even been trying. He wandered over to his couch and sat down heavily. He flopped over onto his side and buried his face in the throw pillow. He was going to regret having run his mouth to her. He knew it.  
/  
It certainly hadn't taken the Joker and Harley that long to break out of Arkham this time. It had only been a little over two months since Nightwing had seen her last. Not nearly long enough for his taste. He would have stayed far away from this fight if he could have. However, Bruce was out of town on an unavoidable Wayne Industries business trip. Tim was stuck at home with a badly twisted ankle. So that left Nightwing and Batgirl to pick up the slack. Not exactly ideal, since the two of them had been avoiding each other since their fight two weeks back. On top of that, Nightwing had really only been back out doing vigilante work for a short time. He was still trying to get back into the groove of things. Needless to say, Nightwing was not in the right statement of mind to be dealing with the Joker and Harley of all people. That was probably why Harley had somehow got him cornered so easily. Distraction was a deadly enemy and Nightwing had let it get to him.  
"Hey, bird boy, it's been a while," Harley smiled broadly. "I see you left your hair short."  
Nightwing gritted his teeth angrily. She aimed at punch at which he caught easily. He used her own forward momentum to swing her around and slam her back against the wall. She gasped in pain. It was satisfying on such a deep level for him to finally return the torment. She laughed at the anger on his face as she grabbed onto his wrists.  
"Come on. We had some good times, didn't we?" She asked, yanking him closer until their chests met.  
Her breasts brushed against him as she breathed. The simple touch brought back memories of her naked. He'd admit that she had a great body. Not everything she'd done to him had been horrible…Suddenly he staggered. The clowness had hooked her heel behind his knee and yanked his leg right out from under him. It was such an easy trick and he'd fallen right for it. He went down in a heap with her on top of him. Her hands found his neck, and began to choke.  
"You look better with a collar on," She whispered against his ear. "You should have stayed a pet."  
He shivered as her body rubbed against his in a sensual slide. Sense memory was like an electric jolt down his spin—of being buried inside her while she choked him.  
"Get off me," he rasped, grabbing her wrists and throwing her off.  
She landed on her ass, wincing.  
"Harley, quit fooling around!" Joker yelled. "We need to am scray now!"  
She started to scramble to her feet, but Nightwing tackled her back down. She shrieked as he pinned her to floor.  
"What's the matter, Harley?" Nightwing smirked nastily. "Didn't you ever want me to do this to you?" Leaned down harder on her wrists and shoved his thigh between her legs. Her pupils dilated with lust as she struggled to get away. "We kind of have some unfinished business, don't we? I think it's only fair I get to pay you back for all the good times you gave me." His face was only inches away from hers. She cried out sharply as he ground the bones of her wrist in his fist.  
"Harley, what are-?" Joker skidded to a stop and turned around to see what was taking the girl so long. His jaw dropped in astonishment. He dropped the bags of money and started to reach for his gun.  
Nightwing was on his feet in an instant with Harley in front of him. "I wouldn't do that."  
"You little-!" Joker spluttered. "How dare you mess with what's mine!"  
"Wrong!" Nightwing snapped. "See, Harley and I have a bit of history. I guess she didn't tell you want she was doing the last time she was out, did she?"  
Harley squeaked in horror. "Don't you tell-!"  
"Tell him, what? That you, me, and Ivy had a hell of a time shacking up together. Or that I probably satisfied you more than he ever will. Because we did have some good times, didn't we Harley?" He grinned crookedly, pulling her back against his chest and sliding a hand down her throat. She whimpered and squirmed in his grip. "You'd get so jealous when Ivy got more affection from me. Because you wanted me all to yourself, didn't you? You never once worried about your dear Joker." Nightwing locked eyes with the Joker, who was seething by now.  
"Harleeeeey…," the Joker snarled. "Is any of that true?"  
"Heh heh," she smiled weakly. "Maybe a little."  
"You—you, argh!" Joker yanked out his gun and pointed it straight at Harley's chest. The clowness' eyes widened in shock at the barrel of the gun leveled at her breast. He was so enraged that he didn't even see Batgirl jump down behind him and knock him out. He was slumped on the floor before he even realized he'd been hit.  
Harley shrieked in anger and struggled to get free. Nightwing let go without a word. She gasped as she hit the floor. She spun around on her knees to glare up at him. "We're even now," Nightwing said, brushing his hands together as if wiping any lingering trace of her off his hands. "He'll never trust you again. You'll always know that I am a better lay than he ever will be, and you'll never have me again. So I get the last laugh." Nightwing gave her a jaunty grin.  
She curled her hands into fists and grit her teeth in fury. "I'll get you back for that!"  
"Yeah, yeah, save it sister," Batgirl sighed and slapped a pair of cuffs on her. "I'm sure you and your puddin' over there can work things out when you're back in your cells at Arkham."  
Outside, police sirens wailed ever closer. Nightwing and Batgirl waited until they burst into the warehouse before the melted away into the shadows. Neither spoke as they leapt across building tops until they were several blocks away. They finally stopped to catch their breath on the roof of an old theater.  
"That was a pretty cruel thing to do," Batgirl remarked, glancing over at Nightwing.  
"Maybe, but I feel like it's only fair."Nightwing replied.  
"Did you have to tell the Joker that you slept with Harley?"  
"She slept with me. There's a difference. I didn't have choice in the matter." He corrected evenly. "And I don't care if the Joker knows. He's not gonna tell anyone else. There's no way he'll admit to anyone that she cheated on him and never once thought of breaking him out. That just makes him look like a loser."  
"Still-."  
"You just didn't want to hear about it."  
Batgirl scowled. "No I didn't."  
"It happened, Barb. And pretending it didn't, doesn't change that." He snapped.  
"Or the fact that you're still hung up on Poison Ivy!" She spat vindictively.  
"That's none of your business," he said coldly.  
"It is if it interferes with your job," she retorted.  
He scowled at her. "I think I just proved it didn't back there." He turned around, "I'm done with this conversation." He jumped off the edge of the building.  
Batgirl watched him go with an angry frown. She spun around and left off the other side of the building.  
/  
Another month slipped by, and things didn't get any better. Dick felt grumpy and agitated all the time. He missed being touched. He missed more than anything the constant sex. After getting it every day, sometimes several times a day, he was going through withdrawals. It sounded stupid to be getting agitated over something like that, but he was like a drug addict twitching for his next fix. He couldn't go to Barbara for help. There was no way he was gonna try to sleep with her anymore. He'd be lucky if they maintained their friendship after this.  
So he began to sleep around. Guy or girl, it didn't really matter. He found whoever he could that was willing to satisfy his need for touch and sex for a night. It wasn't that hard to find people either. He was Dick Grayson, son of billionaire Bruce Wayne. It was the list of people who didn't want to sleep with him that was short. Soon his 'sexcapades' were getting more tabloid headlines than Bruce's, which were not even true more than half the time. There were speculations in the gossip columns and such that he was having a nervous breakdown, or he was going through a mid-life crisis early.  
The days slipped by slowly to him. When he wasn't getting laid or working on his growing motorcycle business, he threw himself into being Nightwing. His life was beginning to revolve around his nightlife. He knew it was unhealthy. He had to find any way possible to forget about Poison Ivy. When he wasn't trying to forget her, he was trying to find her. He chased down every underground contact he had. He watched for any sign of her in the places that might attract her attention. He even checked in on Arkham a few times, but none of the other villains had heard anything about her. The futile search only made him more edgy. He felt like he was going to jump out of his own skin. The sex he was getting didn't help. There was something missing from it that he just couldn't get from anyone, but Ivy. Things just weren't working for him. He decided he needed to find someone who could give him some stability for a little while until he could get himself back together. The only problem was who…  
The who came in the form of the Flash. The Central City vigilante had shown up in Gotham chasing after some mob boss who'd fled when Flash came calling. Batman and Nightwing had given the Flash a hand in rounding up the mob boss. Nightwing hadn't been able to keep his eyes off the red suited man. The guy had a great looking body. For the first time in a while, Nightwing found himself lusting after someone. He slipped the man a note as they shook hands good bye and parted ways.  
Two nights later, Nightwing crouched on top of an air conditioner unit on the roof of a bank waiting for the other hero to show up. He had no idea of knowing if the Flash would come. It was a pretty odd request from someone Flash really didn't know all that well. The wind suddenly whipped up hard and then died down. Nightwing blinked and the red suited man was standing in front of him with a big smirk.  
"Hey there, Nightwing. I got your little note. Very cute. Real high school tactic," the Flash teased.  
The younger vigilante rolled his eyes behind his mask. "I couldn't exactly ask you to meet me here in front of Batman. Not with the subject matter I need to discuss with you."  
"Subject matter? This sounds pretty serious. Why can't you discuss it with your Daddy?"  
Nightwing kept his patience, though just barely. "I know you heard about my kidnapping a few months ago."  
The Flash sobered up. "Yeah. Batman was pretty worried. He contacted me and Boy Blue in Metropolis trying to find any information. He thought you might have been moved out of Gotham. I had nothing to give him. I heard that you'd been found later on."  
"Did Batman tell you who had me?" the younger vigilante asked curiously.  
"Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn. Didja get any threesome action?" The Flash winked at him.  
Nightwing chuckled. "That's about the only action I didn't get."  
"What! I was just joking!" The Flash stared at him in stunned disbelief. "They seriously used you like that?"  
"Yeah. And that's part of my problem." Nightwing admitted.  
The other man looked confused. "You lost me. What's wrong with you?"  
"I've got this addiction…," the younger man started carefully.  
"You're a sex addict now," Flash interpreted with an amused smile.  
Nightwing nodded. "I've been sleeping around, but it's just not helping. I feel like I'm losing control of my life. Everything revolves around finding someone to fuck and this," he tapped the bird on his chest. "I need something stable. I need someone I can rely on to…sleep with until I can get myself under control again."  
"You want me to have sex with you." The Flash clarified slowly.  
"I know it sounds kind of crazy," Nightwing sighed, rocking back on his heels. "But I can't keep spiraling like this. I feel like I'm losing my mind. I just need someone steady for a little while. I'm not asking for a relationship or anything permanent."  
Flash crossed his arms over his chest and tapped his foot as he thought. "Why're you asking me? I mean, I'm one of the biggest womanizers around."  
"Bull shit," the younger vigilante smirked. "No guy blows that much hot air unless they are compensating for something. I'm not saying you're completely gay, but more likely swing both ways like I do."  
Flash's eyebrow ticked at being pegged so easily. "Still your Batman's kid. If he finds out-."  
"I'm not his 'kid' anymore. I operate on my own and sometimes lend him a hand. I don't take orders from anyone, but me," Nightwing snapped irritably.  
"Alright. Alright," Flash waved his hands in surrender. "How often are we talkin'?"  
"However much you want to." The younger man smirked, leaning closer to the other vigilante.  
"I've gotta pretty big appetite." The older man grinned wickedly.  
Nightwing sat back on his heels. "Even better. Whenever you feel like it just show up. You can meet me here." He handed over a slip of paper with his address on it. "Just gimme some warning before hand."  
"You're acting like I already agreed to this." Flash frowned.  
"You did when you asked how often," Nightwing smiled wolfishly.  
"Jeez, you're an arrogant guy."  
Nightwing laughed. "Says the king of arrogance."  
"Yeah, yeah. Real cute. Fine then, you've got yourself a deal. No strings attached," Flash put out his hand.  
Nightwing reached down to grasp it and shake. "Deal. No strings what so ever. Just sex."  
"Sweet deal. When do we start?" Flash gave him a big smile.  
Nightwing pulled him into a biting kiss. "Right now…"  
/  
The Flash had him pushed up against the door to the roof before he even realized they were in motion. He grunted against the impact of his back slamming against the hard wooden surface behind him. A groan escaped him a second later as Flash ground his hips against Nightwing's hips, revealing just how hard he was already. The younger vigilante smirked. He'd known he had Flash the second the word sex had left his lips. He'd been hard since the Flash had given him that first cocky grin. He rubbed his equally stiff erection against the older vigilante's.  
"You really are an addict," the Flash smirked. "You're willing to do it right out here on the roof top? What if someone sees?"  
Nightwing gasped as the older man pinned his wrists to the door on either side of his head and bracketed him in with his much larger frame. Yes, Nightwing thought fuzzily. This is what he needed; loss of control. How could he not have realized it sooner? "Anywhere. I don't care. Just please…," he moaned huskily as Flash rubbed their hips together again.  
"And they say I'm the horny one," Flash chuckled darkly.  
Nightwing's back arched, trying to create more delicious friction. He didn't even try to struggle against the hold on his wrists. Already his mind was hazy with lust and yet oddly he felt calmer than he'd been in weeks. He sighed happily when his lips were caught up in rough, searing kiss. He opened his mouth immediately to let Flash sweep his tongue inside and taste him. The older vigilante's tongue was hot as it ran across the roof of his mouth and swept over Nightwing's tongue. In fact, the body heat coming off of Flash was unusually high for a normal person. But then, this man wasn't normal. Nightwing could only deduce that the man must burn probably triple the amount of calories as a normal human, and that was probably what made him so much warmer. It felt good to Nightwing, especially since they were out in a cool, breezy night doing things that were better left indoors.  
Flash broke the kiss, allowing them both to gasp for some much needed air. He moved in closer to Nightwing until their chests pressed together. Nightwing whined softly as their cocks aligned again. It'd been a while since he'd let a man dominate him like this. He found that he liked it ten times more than the last time he'd allowed it. He tried not to think of how fucked in the head that meant he had become. Flash pulled Nightwing's wrists up over his head and captured them in one hand. He used his now free right hand to trail down the expanse of the younger vigilante's chest, stomach, and all the way down to his waist line. He barely had to search to find the seam between the top and the bottom of Nightwing's costume. He fumbled for a moment with the clasp on the utility belt, but snapped it free seconds later.  
"Wait!" Nightwing gasped before the older man dropped the belt. "Second pocket, lube and condoms."  
Flash grinned. "You are prepared."  
"I didn't think you say no." Nightwing gave him a toothy smile.  
The older man looked slightly annoyed again at being so easily seen through. He shrugged the feeling aside in favor of lust. He definitely wasn't one to turn down sex, especially when offered with no strings. He fished out the packet of lube and condom before dropping the belt to ground. He tucked the condom into the edge of Nightwing's glove where it wouldn't fall free.  
"Handy," Nightwing smirked.  
"Lame," Flash shot back.  
Nightwing chuckled then sucked in a quick breath as Flash yanked his bottoms down without any warning. His dick bobbed free, twitching in the cool night air, before curling towards his belly. Flash wrapped his gloved hand around the straining erection and began to jack his hand in long, almost to rough strokes. Nightwing moaned huskily as his back arched again and his head tilted back against the wall. The older vigilante leaned in to bite and suck at the expanse of throat that wasn't hidden by the black costume collar. Nightwing shuddered, caught between the sharp edges of pain and intense pleasure forming a potent mix in his lower body. His breath came in quick pants as the heady sensations began to overwhelm him. He growled in irritation when Flash's hand left his dick for a moment. When the hand came back a second later it was glove free. The feeling of calloused finger tips sliding over his cock had him coming almost instantly.  
"Come on, Birdie." Flash whispered gruffly into his ear, dragging his thumb over the head of Nightwing's cock before digging his nail into the slit. The younger vigilante shuddered hard at the rough treatment. Another quick, twisting pull on Nightwing's length had him coming hard a second later. He cried out sharply as his orgasm shuddered through him. Flash watched with lusty satisfaction as the younger man rode through his orgasm. Normally, guys didn't turn Flash on as much as girls. Nightwing was an exception. The younger man was to fucking hot to be running around in nothing but a skin tight suit fighting villains. Flash waited until every last drop of cum had spilled out before taking his hand away and shaking off most of the spunk. He held his hand in front of Nightwing's face. "This stuff's pretty thick, Birdie. Been holding back for a while?"  
"Guess so."  
"You mind cleaning it off. I'm not big fan of other guy's jizz." Flash explained honestly.  
"Fair enough," Nightwing said, before tilting his head forward to suck one of Flash's fingers into his mouth.  
The older vigilante's eyes widened as an agile tongue swirled around his finger licking it clean. His cock throbbed hard as Nightwing sucked hard once to make sure all the residue was gone and then switched to the next finger. The younger vigilante repeated the same actions on each finger. He grinned as Flash began to unconsciously rock his hips against Nightwing's, trying to relieve the ache beginning to build there. Nightwing dragged the flat of his tongue across the palm of older man's hand.  
"All clean." Nightwing declared with a jaunty smile.  
"Good," Flash said as he ripped open the lube packet with his teeth. He coated his fingers clumsily and tossed the packet away. His fingers found Nightwing's hole a second later and rubbed across the pucker before pushing in two fingers at once. The younger vigilante gasped, trying to force himself to relax enough to accept the intrusion. Flash thrust his fingers in gently, stretching and scissoring. He prepared Nightwing as fast as he dared. He was quickly losing control of his lust though. The tight heat surrounding his fingers was tempting. He wanted to be inside there—now!  
Nightwing sensed Flash's growing impatience. He used Flash's iron grip on his wrists to pull his legs up and wrap them around the older man's waist. Flash's eyes widened in amazement as the younger man shimmied his body down until he was perfectly aligned to be taken. The older vigilante pulled his fingers free and reached down to yank down his tights. Flash groaned heavy in the back of his throat as his finally freed cock nudged over that waiting puckered hole.  
"Condom…?" he grated out, rocking his hips so hard the head of his cock nearly slipped inside Nightwing. He didn't want wait even a second longer.  
"Forget the fucking condom…ahh!" Nightwing gasped, as Flash's cock breached him.  
Flash dug his fingers into the younger man's side and thrust up into him in one long, smooth push. Nightwing's whole body went rigid as he was filled. They both took a moment to adjust when Flash finally sank balls deep inside Nightwing. Flash groaned at the constricting heat around his cock, tighter and smoother than any silken glove. Oh it was good, so good. He couldn't wait to move any longer. He rocked his hips back and pushed back inside with a smooth glide.  
Nightwing couldn't hold back the almost continuous whimpers as Flash rocked into him with long, deep thrusts. He was fully hard again in a matter of moments. There was something so relieving and fucking wonderful about letting himself be used this way. He rolled his hips as best as could given his position, trying to make the thrusts go deeper and find that perfect spot…  
"Unnh!" He groaned, body snapping taut as Flash found that place inside him that made his nerves sing. "Yes, yes, yes right there," he babbled helplessly as pleasure swamped his senses.  
Flash smiled fiercely as he set an even faster, more brutal rhythm, making sure to strike that spot as often as possible. Nightwing was a whimpering, writhing mess in only a few minutes. He didn't really care. This was what he needed. He dropped all of his defenses. The show of vulnerability only seemed to heighten Flash's lust. He pressed Nightwing back hard against the door, until the younger vigilante was completely trapped between Flash's body, hands, and the door at his back. Nightwing whined breathlessly as the new position trapped his cock between their stomachs. The continuous rocking motion of Flash's abs was adding blissful friction against Nightwing's dick. The gratification in Nightwing was reaching new soaring levels. He felt like he was jumping off buildings. It was the same feeling of ecstatic freedom. Orgasm was like a building storm inside him getting ready to strike.  
Flash was desperately close to finishing too, judging by the jitter in his hips and thighs, and his loss of rhythm. Suddenly, Nightwing was there. Climax took his breath away with how quickly and ferociously it swept over him. Flash captured his mouth in a messy kiss, swallowing up the shout that the younger man could not have held back. He barely had the presence of mind to kiss back as his body was overwhelmed with such a rush of ecstasy. He felt heady and nearly faint with how good he felt. Flash thrust into him wildly a few more times. Then he was coming just as hard as Nightwing. It was the younger man's turn to swallow up Flash's cry of completion.  
They stayed in the same position, trembling slightly as their bodies started to come down from their orgasmic highs. They breathed wetly into each other's mouths, foreheads pressed together, as aftershocks rippled through them. Flash released Nightwing's hands, who let them drop with a grateful groan. He slid his slightly numbed arms around Flash's neck and pulled the older vigilante in for a sloppy, biting kiss. They traded a few more kisses before Nightwing finally levered himself up enough to let Flash's now limp cock slid free of his body. The both shivered as cool air reached exposed sensitive areas. Flash steadied Nightwing as he lowered cramped legs to stand a tad shakily. They both cleaned up carefully and readjusted their costumes.  
"This is going to be a good deal," Flash smirked as he smoothed down his red top. The scent of musk, sweat, and sex clung pleasantly to his costume. It wasn't the first time he'd have to wash his costume because of that smell.  
Nightwing gave him a sly smile. "I'm glad you accepted it."  
"So anytime I want it right?" Flash asked.  
"Anytime. Just gimme a little warning. And next time, we're definitely doing this horizontal on a bed." He rubbed his back where it ached a little from the abuse.  
Flash chuckled. "Yeah, my thighs are gonna ache tomorrow. And you're not as light as you look."  
"Well, hey, I gotta go before someone (Robin) catches me up here," Nightwing sighed, reaching down to swipe up his utility belt and clip it back on.  
"No problem. I'll catch you later…"  
A gust of wind whipped up out of nowhere and then Flash was gone. Hopefully, this will all work out for the best, Nightwing thought. A steady was exactly what he needed for a little while. He hadn't felt this loose and relaxed in months. Why hadn't he thought of this sooner? He shrugged to himself before checking his costume over one more time. He cringed at the cum stains standing out white against the black. So much for any crime fighting tonight. He was going straight home to wash himself and his costume. He walked to the edge of the bank roof before jumping off and gliding in the direction of the warehouse district.  
Behind him, the clouds drifted away from the moon and the roof tops seemed to brighten in pale wash of light. A black and red cape flickered against the night sky for an instant on a higher roof top overlooking the bank. A small shadow moved to the edge and disappeared out of sight as well.  
/

Being with Flash, worked out better than he had expected. Within a few weeks, he felt calmer. He didn't feel like he was gonna lost it anymore. He'd found that what he needed (besides Ivy) was to be dominated. During his captivity, he had apparently developed quite a kink for it. Or perhaps he'd just gotten used to being used and had begun to enjoy it. Either way, he felt calmest when Flash was pinning him to the bed by the wrists and fucking his worries away. He let himself be a creature of pleasure again in those moments. Flash certainly didn't complain about their sexual encounters. He seemed to get off on dominating, so it worked out for the both of them.  
They didn't exchange their real names. They kept their masks on during sex. Talking was kept mostly to bantering and meaningless small talk. Neither wanted intimacy from the other. It was an easy arrangement that both could appreciate. They even managed to hide their 'deal' from Batman. After all, Flash was harder to catch than a slippery eel. Even with Batman's extensive network set up throughout almost every security camera in Gotham, the tapes would never be able to film the Flash at the speeds he went.  
Of course, Tim figured out what was going on. Damn kid, followed Dick around like a puppy. He was far to nosy and intelligent for his own good. Dick had no idea how the little brat figured it out for sure, but if he could than Batman could. So he and Flash were even more careful with their arrangement after that. Barbara seemed to finally come back around almost as soon as he stopped sexing up everything on two legs that came near him. She seemed to think he was finally getting over everything. She was very far from the truth. He didn't try to correct her. He was just glad to have her back as his friend. She still meant a lot to him.  
Months went by more quickly. Before Dick knew it nine months had slipped by since the day he'd last seen Ivy. He'd not heard even a whisper or a rumor about her. He realized finally that she must really be gone for good. Where ever it was that she'd escaped to he hoped it had worked out for her. He felt a little more carefree finally. He was nowhere near fully letting her go. If he caught even a hint of her whereabouts he'd drop everything and chase that lead. There was nothing though. He was settling back down. He still worked his nightlife far to much, but things weren't as bad as before. It was less of an escape now than it had been.  
"I think this is the last time," he said to Flash, when the vigilante showed up one Tuesday night.  
Flash looked somewhat disappointed. "Really?"  
"Yeah, I think I'll be ok now."  
"Well, let's make this last one really good, huh?" The older man grinned. "I gotta say I'm gonna miss our arrangement though."  
Nightwing huffed a laugh. "Me too. The sex is great. But I can't keep using you either."  
"True. Besides, there's this girl I'm starting to get pretty serious about. I don't think she'd like it if I keep running off to fuck some guy." Flash sighed.  
"Nope," the younger man remarked, beginning to shed his suit. "Let's make this one last…"  
They spent the whole night together. Nightwing watched the sun come up from the bed on his knees with Flash buried deep inside of him. He watched the sun break over the buildings as he came across the sheets of his mattress. Behind him, Flash came with a broken off shout. It was the perfect ending for their fuck buddy relationship.  
/  
It had taken Pamela Isley four days to get to a small city about an hour away from Orlando, Florida, called Lakeland; the city where her older sister now lived. She probably could have made it in less time, but she had avoided all the major highways and toll ways. She had done everything she could to make herself as untraceable as possible. That meant sticking to back ways, doing the speed limit, and stopping only when necessary.  
She had stopped in Richmond, Virginia to ditch any evidence she had left of Poison Ivy. She went to a department store in the mall and bought a whole new wardrobe of clothes. The clothes made her look like a proper lady again. With the change of clothes, came the change of identity. She replaced her driver's license, social security card, and birth certificate with her new ones. She was now Payton Ives. She looked over the little information she had on the lost Payton Ives. The girl had been a second cousin of hers. The girl had been kidnapped many years ago when she was very young and was never found. Ivy was not an optimist. She knew the girl had to be dead. She had chosen to become Payton, because the girl had looked like Pamela. It would be an easy role to step into since she had known Payton when they were children. All she had to do was claim that she'd escaped whoever had captured her, had amnesia until very recently, and when she finally remembered who she was she returned home to Florida. Simple, really.  
Ivy made it down to Florida with no problems. It almost seemed to easy, but she wasn't going to say a word against it. She hoped that whatever higher power out there was being lenient with her since she was trying to start over. She spent the first night in Lakeland at a cheap hotel. She told herself it was because it was to late at night to go visiting. Really, she was scared to face her sister. She was not a coward though.  
The morning of the fifth day of her escape from Gotham found her standing in front of a plain white door. It was the front door of a beautiful block built one story home. The house belonged to one Patricia Isley, Pamela's sister. The red head stood in front of the door for almost 5 minutes. She was trying to build up the courage to knock. She hadn't seen or talked to her sister in 5 years. Not for lack of trying on Patricia's part. Her sister had even gone so far as to send her letters in Arkham. Pamela had been to ashamed to read them, let alone reply to any of them. She and Patricia had been so close growing up. They'd been each other's best friends. At only, eighteen months apart in age they had been each other's everything. When their father died it had been just them and their mom. It made them even closer. They hardly left each other's sides. They had even gone to college together to study botany. Pamela even knew the exact date they had drifted apart. The day Pamela had left for her internship in Gotham. Now she was back home in Florida, hoping that her big sister could forgive her for everything.  
Raising her hand to knock on the door was the second hardest thing she'd ever done in her life. The first had been leaving Nightwing behind in Gotham. She trembled at the thought of him lying on that bed, staring up at her with those beautiful blue eyes. She swallowed down the sick feeling trying to overwhelm her again. She took a deep breath and grasped her resolve. She knocked on the door.  
Waiting for the door to open had her nearly running back to her car. She had to remind herself that she was stronger than this. She had faced Batman! She shook her head. She was not that person anymore. Never again…  
The door opened to a pretty strawberry blond woman. She wore a simple button down green shirt and brown pleated skirt. She looked like the proper, conservative mother. She was a little plump around the middle that came with having babies and living comfortably. She looked wonderful. Pamela nearly cried at the sight of her.  
"Patricia."  
"Pamela?" the other woman gasped.  
The red head nodded slowly.  
"Oh my God! Pamela!" Patricia cried, reaching out and pulling her into a fierce hug.  
There was no way Pamela could have stopped herself from crying in that moment. They stood on the porch together sobbing into each other's shoulders as they hugged each other close. After about five minutes, Patricia pulled herself together another to usher her sister inside.  
"Oh, Pam! It's been so long. I missed you so much!" Patricia smiled through watery eyes.  
Pamela smiled back. "I missed you too. I'm so sorry I never wrote or called you back all these years. I was just to ashamed to speak to you."  
"It's alright, Pamela. But how did you get here? Last I heard you were-," she broke off abruptly. "Well, let me get you something to eat and drink first. I'm sure you're hungry. You can tell me everything after that."  
"Thank you," Pamela whispered.  
"Come on in. Sit down. The children are in school so we won't have to worry about being interrupted for a few hours." Patricia ushered her sister to the kitchen table.  
Pamela asked after the children as Patricia made lunch. They spoke very little as they ate. When lunch was finished and cleared away, Patricia sat down Pamela down in the living room on the sofa.  
"Alright. Now that you're comfortable tell me what happened." Patricia said gently.  
Pamela told her sister everything, starting from the beginning of her internship in Gotham. She explained how she had gotten involved with an activist group, getting caught up in their enthusiasm and twisted sense of justice. She had let it brain wash her until she felt it was her personal duty to fight the environmental destruction taking place in Gotham. At first, she had tried the passive aggressive approach the activists used. Nothing worked, so she had become more and more frustrated. She finally snapped when Harvey Dent plowed up that field to make Arkham and had nearly destroyed a very rare rose that only survived there. She had become Poison Ivy, out for revenge because the earth could not strike back. Poison Ivy's twisted rantings and warped views of environmental justice had consumed her until she had become truly lost. She spoke of fighting Batman and Robin. She told Patricia about teaming up with Harley and becoming even more embittered by greed. At one point, she had tried to reform, but it had not worked. When she'd found out that she couldn't have children it had thrown her back into madness. The hope of having a family of her own had been her last saving grace. With that hope striped away from her, she was lost once more.  
Then one day about six months ago, Patricia had sent a letter to her while she'd been imprisoned once more in Arkham. It was the first letter she'd read from her sister in years. It was the letter that told her that their mother had passed away. The letter saved Pamela. It made her realize that her mother had died thinking her daughter was nothing but a mad woman and a thief. She was so ashamed of herself that she hadn't even known her own mother had been ill for so long. Her mother had passed away without Pamela even saying good bye to her. What must her mother of thought of her? What must Patricia think of her? She realized that day that she didn't want to be Poison Ivy anymore. She snapped out of the madness she had somehow let herself fall into. She wanted to be Pamela Isley again.  
So she had plotted with Harley to break out of Arkham. She knew no judge would ever believe her change of heart. She'd be imprisoned for life even if she did prove that she was remorseful of everything she'd ever done. Her only hope was to escape Arkham, this time for good, but she couldn't do it alone. She needed Harley's help for more than just escape though. Just when she decided she needed to break free a new, yet familiar vigilante had returned to Gotham. Nightwing. Poison Ivy wanted him. So she and Harley made plans to capture him. It took more than three months of careful planning for them to escape from Arkham this time.  
Pamela stopped her story there. It was more than she had ever told anyone, even the psychiatrists at Arkham. She needed to gather her thoughts so she could talk about what happened next. Just thinking of Nightwing made her want to cry. Every mile driven away from Gotham had been like a knife through her heart as she realized just how in love with the vigilante she had become.  
"It's ok if you don't want to say anymore, Pam," Patricia said kindly, rubbing Pamela's arm gently.  
Pamela shook her head. "No, I want to tell you. It's just hard because I'm most ashamed about this."  
"Pam, it's alright. I'm sure it can't be as bad as everything else," her older sister soothed.  
Pamela laughed sadly and blurted out. "Harley and I managed to kidnap Nightwing."  
"What!"  
"Yes, the vigilante. We captured him and kept him as a pet." She explained. "It was my last stunt as Poison Ivy, I guess. But I wanted him so badly, Pat. You can't even imagine."  
"But you kept him as a pet?" Patricia was wide eyed.  
"Well, more like a sex slave…"  
"Oh my God, Pam!"  
"I know! It was crazy. Harley and I caught up, kept him naked, and used him whenever we felt like. We even gave him a collar. We kept him chained and drugged so he couldn't escape. I never meant to let Harley stay for very long, so when I got tired of her I turned her in. Then I had Nightwing to myself," She spilled the truth. It was cathartic to confess it all. "I wanted to keep him, Pat. I loved him…ever since he was Robin. He is so beautiful, you have no idea! I knew when I saw him return to Gotham that I had to have him, even if just for a little while. I knew he could give me away out. A reason to hold onto being a better person and fixing my life."  
"Pam, what are you talking about?" Patricia asked worriedly.  
Patricia took a deep breath. "I'm pregnant."  
Patricia's mouth dropped open. "Oh…oh Pamela. Are you…are you sure? I thought you said you couldn't have children!"  
"I took a test a week ago. It was positive. I don't know how, Pat. It shouldn't be possible."  
"Pamela!" Patricia pulled her into a tight hug. "Does he know?"  
"No. I am to scared to hope. With so many toxins and immunities in my body, I still may not be able to keep this baby. I didn't want to tell him…" She admitted guiltily.  
"Is he ok?"  
"He's fine. I left clues for Batman to find him. I'm sure he's safely back home by now." Pamela answered.  
Patricia pulled back and looked at her sister seriously. "You didn't hurt him?"  
"No! Never! I couldn't ever…," She gasped, "He helped me realize I could get out like I wanted. He gave me the courage to leave. He made me feel beautiful again."  
"Pam, oh honey, you've got it bad." Patricia smiled sadly and put her arm around her sister's shoulders.  
She nodded, swiping tears away. "It was so hard to leave him. I didn't even tell him I was going."  
"What are you going to do now, Pam?"  
"That's why I'm here, Patty. I need your help." She smiled. "I want my old life back. I want to be a better person. I've got my new identity made. I just need to find a job and a home. Can you help me?"  
"Pam, I will do everything I can for you. You have to swear you're going to change, Pam. No going back to being Poison Ivy. This is big risk for me and my family. I love you dearly, but I can't protect you if things go bad like that again," Patricia answered carefully.  
"I swear to you, Patricia. I am done with Poison Ivy. Never again. I swear it to you, and my baby," Pamela whispered fiercely, as her hand settled of her belly.  
"I believe you, Pamela. We'll get it all figured out." Patricia smiled brightly.  
Pamela hugged her sister hard. "Thank you so much!"  
"I'm your sister, Pam. I'll always be here for you." Patricia hugged back.  
"Even after everything I've done?"  
"Especially after everything you've done. I forgive you, Pamela."  
Pamela struggled to hold back her tears.  
"I'm sure Nightwing does too," Patricia whispered in her ear, and Pamela burst into tears once more.  
/  
Starting her life over as Payton Ives turned out not to be very difficult. Patricia owned a small chain of flower shops in Lakeland. She was opening a new shop and needed a manager. She gave that position to Payton. Another girl, Jennifer, was hired on as an assistant (she mostly dealt with all the customers). Payton enjoyed her work, growing and cultivating beautiful flowers. It felt so good to just grow things again for no other reason than to bring out its beauty. She felt calm and stress free for the first time in years.  
She stayed with Patricia and her family for the first few months. She got to finally know her niece and nephew, Paige and Patrick. They had been a little leery of her at first. She couldn't really blame them. It was hard to get over the fact that their aunt was considered a 'super villain' in Gotham. They kept her secret though. Once they realized she was not evil, they came to like her a lot. Paige was particularly fascinated with Payton's growing baby bump. Paige was the first to feel the baby kick. When Payton felt the next kick she dissolved into tears. She felt like she'd cried more in the last few months than she had in years. It had taken a while for the tears to stop this time though. She was so happy and excited she could barely contain her feelings. Yet, she was sad, because she couldn't share it with the one person who mattered most.  
All in all though, the past four months had been kind to her. She was so happy to be a part of her family again. She finally found a perfect, two bedroom apartment to move into not far from the flower shop. It was only a two block walk to work. Everything she needed was located close to her. Even though, she found a place for herself, Payton still spent most of her time at Patricia's house. Mondays had become their 'sister hang out' day. The kids were in school and the flower shop was closed. They spent the mornings chatting and drinking tea. Occasionally, they went out to the movies or ate lunch at the little diner near the flower shop. This morning, however, they were spending their time at Patricia's house.  
"So Pay, how's the manger position working out for you at the flower shop?" Patricia asked, setting down a cup of tea on the coffee table in front of her sister. She sank down into the couch beside her sister. The TV was turned on to the news, but neither was really paying it much mind.  
"Very well," Payton smiled. "It's wonderful to watch my flowers grow. Everything is more peaceful."  
"Good. Jennifer said she loves working with you. I guess you're more easy going than I am," Patricia chuckled.  
Payton smirked. "I wouldn't say that."  
"Oh, my favorite show is coming on!" Patricia exclaimed as the theme song began to play.  
"Honestly, Pat, why do you watch this gossip?" Payton rolled her eyes.  
"It makes my life seem so much better when I can watch the rich and famous suffer a little," the older woman winked. "Not to mention, I'm still young at heart. So don't pick on this poor, divorced woman for wanting to get a look at all the cute young, rich men."  
They both quieted as the gossip show began and the hostess began to talk. Payton didn't really pay attention as the hostess began to talk about recent celebrity goings on. She perked up when Bruce Wayne's name was suddenly mentioned.  
"—held a recent charity event for the Gotham Children's Hospital. The event was a huge success raising a million dollars for the hospital. Of course, all of Gotham's high society showed up in style-," the hostess was saying.  
Payton nearly dropped her tea when the video footage panned to a black haired, blue eyed young man that she knew all to well. How could she not? She'd had his body to herself for almost two months. She'd never forget that last night when she finally got to look into his eyes. Her heart hammered in her chest as he appeared to be laughing with the red haired girl she knew to be the Commissioner's daughter. She briefly wondered if that was the girl he was in love with that he'd mentioned. He looked very dashing in his black tux. He'd actually kept his hair styled exactly the way she'd cut it. It was hard to imagine he was one of the rich boy types. Brief memories of other times she had seen his face in the newspaper and other TV shows crossed her mind. She knew his face now, just not his name.  
"Pay, are you alright?" Patricia gripped her arm gently.  
"Who is that, Pat?"  
"That's Bruce Wayne's adopted son. His name's Dick Grayson. I would have thought you'd know who he is," the older woman said.  
Pay covered her mouth with her hand. It was all falling into place. It was ridiculous and almost impossible to believe, but could it be possible Bruce Wayne was Batman? Dick Grayson was Nightwing. That much she knew for sure. It only made sense that he was recruited into being a vigilante. Bruce Wayne would have all the money and resources necessary to pay for all of Batman's expensive toys.  
Dick Grayson.  
He looked like he was doing just fine. She wondered if he missed her at all. Had he gotten over whatever attachment he might have had to her while he was under her captivity? For a moment, the young man's face turned towards the camera. His eyes were so blue under all the bright lights. His smile was open and sincere. She remembered when he had smiled at her like that. He was gorgeous, and she was still desperately in love with him.  
"Pay, you're scaring me. What's the matter?"  
She scrambled to think of something that covered up her reaction. "I met Bruce Wayne once when I was dating Harvey Dent. I also happened to kidnap him once and run up some of his credit cards on an extensive shopping spree…"  
"What?" Patricia stared.  
"Harley and I decided we needed some Christmas cheer and excitement," Payton half laughed. "Let's just say it turned out badly."  
"But why were you asking about Dick Grayson?"  
Payton turned back to the TV, pretending to pay attention to it again. Her hand drifted to her growing belly. "He reminded me of someone."  
The older woman frowned. Her sister wasn't telling her something, but she wouldn't pry. Payton would tell her when she wanted to. She'd just have to wait.  
"Dick Grayson's been the focus of a lot of gossip lately," Patricia remarked off handedly. She didn't miss the look of worry on her sister's face.  
"Why is that?"  
"There were a lot of stories about his recent many varied 'sexcapades.'"  
"What is that?"  
Patricia laughed. "You need to pay more attention to social media. He was sleeping around with pretty much anything that moved. It was turning into quite the scandal. He was even getting more gossip media coverage than Bruce Wayne. It's hard to trump him."  
Payton's eyes blazed as she imagined him sleeping with other people. No one was allowed to mess with her Bird. He belonged to her. How dare he!  
"There was some speculation that he was having a nervous breakdown."  
Payton turned her head to regard her sister. "Why would they say that?"  
"He looked like crap. He'd lost weight, didn't look like he was sleeping, and other things like that," Patricia explained. "They'll probably talk more about it here in a minute when it comes back from commercial since they just talked about Bruce Wayne."  
Waiting for the commercial break to be over was more tedious than usual to Payton. She hoped they did talk about him. She was starved for any news about him. But if he was acting so erratic maybe she'd had more of an emotional impact on him then she'd thought. Maybe he did miss her, and that's why he was behaving this way. Or perhaps he was just sleeping with anything that walked, in hopes of wiping any memories of her away. She frowned. Either way, she'd obviously gotten to him more than she'd realized.  
The TV Show suddenly came back from commercial. The hostess sat at her desk with a snapshot portrait of Dick Grayson on the left side of the screen. "We're back with more Celebrity Gossip News. Still focusing on Gotham's socialites, Dick Grayson has recently stepped down from his limelight. Yes, that's right. The young man whose reputation as a playboy was quickly beginning to out match his own step father has quit his promiscuous behavior. He has not been seen out on the town, or on the arm of any guy or girl in more than a week. There is tons of speculation as to the why he started his illicit activities in the first place. He certainly didn't keep it a secret. More recent behavioral analysts claim that Grayson was acting neurotic due to substance abuse or some other equally harmful addiction. His now sudden lack of activity has left gossip mongers, like myself, wondering just what is going on in his head. If he was on drugs, did he finally break down and get help? Maybe he was starved for attention or was trying to steal some of the spot light away from his very famous step father, Bruce Wayne. Whatever it was that might have driven Grayson seems to have ended very abruptly. So ends the playboy reign of Dick Grayson after three short months. I'm sure there are many out that are mourning their missed chance of a night spent with such a handsome, rich man."  
Payton was wondering the same as the hostess on TV. Why had he stopped sleeping around so suddenly? Had he found someone new to pour all of his intense focus on? Had he finally forgotten about her or stopped missing her (if he ever had)? She wrapped her other arm around her belly. Beneath her hand, the baby kicked and made her smile. Soon as she got a chance she was going to go dig up every scrap of information she could find on Dick Grayson.  
/  
Finding information on Dick Grayson wasn't very hard to do. She remembered the story about him as soon as she found the Gotham Times that had first published the article about his parents' deaths. For a city as bad as Gotham this story had been particularly tragic. Here was a boy whose life had been ruined in one night by a petty con man, because the circus had stopped in Gotham. She ran her fingers over the printed picture of the sad little boy. The look on his young face was one of total devastation. She remembered looking at that picture when it was first printed. It had been her first stay in Arkham when she'd read this story. The tragedy had touched her even back then. A child should not lose their parents in such a gruesome manner. She studied the second picture of little Dick Grayson in his circus outfit standing proudly between his parents. All of them were smiling. They all looked so happy. She recalled the look on Nightwing's face when Harley had asked if he was a circus freak. They had been so close to the truth. Only now did she realize that. No wonder he'd looked almost panicked.  
The next article she found was about Bruce Wayne adopting Dick Grayson. She studied the picture of tall, darkly handsome billionaire. Now that she knew the truth it was easy to see Batman hidden in the jaded man's eyes. She found some gossip tabloids that talked about Dick in brief blurbs as he grew up. She found a story about Tony Zucco being caught by Batman and Robin. She could only imagine how Dick must have felt to finally catch the man who'd murdered his parents. She found a list of his high school graduation class, with Barbara Gordon's name not far behind. Commissioner Gordon's daughter had to be Batgirl. That bright red hair was a dead giveaway. Seeing the girl's name once again in Dick's college graduation class list only confirmed what she had suspected. Barbara Gordon had to be the woman Nightwing had mentioned he had loved. Her hands curled around the old newspaper, crinkling the corners, as a sharp stab of jealous swept through her. She had some satisfaction in knowing that Nightwing had not returned to Batgirl. His promiscuous antics were more than enough proof of that. She was sure whatever they might have been was over. She did feel sorry knowing that she was probably responsible for his erratic change in behavior. She'd never meant to hurt him. She'd only ever wanted to keep and love him.  
'You can't just put a collar on a person and own them!' He'd yelled at her.  
If only it could have been true though. She chuckled sadly. He was so glorious when he was in a temper. All of that anger and intensity had been sexy. It was like having a tiger on a leash inches from clawing out her throat; exhilarating and breath taking. Yet, his intensity was even more devastating to her when it was out of passion, not anger.  
Oh, how she missed him.  
The baby in her womb squirmed and kicked. She knew it would be a boy. She already had his name picked out. It was a good, strong name. The next kick was harder and it made her smile. He'd be a fierce warrior like his father. She covered her mouth with her hand and leaned over the stack of newspapers in front of her. Tears glittered in the corners of her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. She wanted to see him again. Looking at his face in a newspaper or on the TV was not enough; nowhere near enough. She wondered if she would ever see him again. She hoped one day he could forgive her. She prayed maybe he might even come to love her.  
More than anything she hoped fervently that he would find her.  
/  
Nine months flew by faster than Payton could have believed. She woke up one morning to a painful contraction. Excitement shot through her. She rubbed her hand over her now very swollen belly. Her baby would be here soon! She called Patricia, who barely heard Payton get the words out before she'd dropped the phone and rushed to her car.  
The next several hours were a blur to Payton. Patricia had rushed her to the hospital soon as the contractions began to get closer together. Labor was so much more painful than anything Payton had ever endured. She never could have gotten through it without Patricia. Her sister stayed with her the whole time, clutching her hand and coaching her on how to breathe. Through the worst pain, she wished fervently that Nightwing was there. She wanted it to be his hand she was hanging onto and his warm voice whispering encouragements in his ear.  
Finally, after several long hours, and late into the afternoon her baby was born. It was a boy, just as she had known. He had a thatch of black hair atop his little head. When he opened his eyes to look at his mother for the first time, Payton began to cry. He had the deepest twilight blue eyes.  
"Happy Birthday, William," she whispered. "You look just like your father."  
"Oh, Pay, he is absolutely beautiful." Patricia put her arm around her sister's shoulders and hugged her tight. "Congratulations! You're a mommy!"  
She smiled happily and caressed William's cheek. Congratulations, Nightwing, she thought. You're a father.  
/  
Nightwing woke up one afternoon, about a week after breaking it off with the Flash, feeling like something important was happening. He had no idea what that might be. He'd dreamt about Poison Ivy for the first time in several weeks. It had been a dream about the last time they'd made love together. He smiled gently, remembering the expression on her face when she'd really looked into his eyes the first time. He reached out to pull open the top drawer of his night stand and take out the item that he always left there now. His fingers curled around the black leather collar that he had worn for two months. He thought of those months as his time when he 'belonged to Ivy'. He rubbed his thumb over the soft, supple leather and gazed up at the skylight above his bed.  
He wondered how she was doing. Was she happy where ever she had ended up? Did she have someone else by now? It had been 9 months since they'd been together. It didn't seem like it had been that long. The memories of her were still strong in his mind. He wondered if he would ever see her again. He desperately wanted to find her, but her trail had long since gone cold. There had been no leads in months on her whereabouts. All of the previous leads had been fakes or led to dead ends.  
The subtle subconscious itch that something important was happening came back. He knew it had to do with her. He didn't really know how he knew, but he could just sense it. He hoped she was ok. He rolled over on to his side, and stared at the collar in his hand. Slowly, he drifted back to sleep. When he dreamed it was of him and Ivy, living together in a two story house with a big yard and a garden out back. Their son was playing in the yard on his tricycle. He had black hair and blue eyes, just like his daddy.  
/  
Be a responsible reader and review!


	3. Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They meet again and things take a different turn.

A/N: I have been cleaning and working on this chapter since I posted the last one. I kept taking breaks from it so I could come back with a fresh view. I feel like I've finally polished it up enough that it can be read by others. This unbetaed so my apologies to grammer and spelling errors. It has been spell checked but that stupid program isn't always reliable. If you see anything majorly annoying, please tell me.

Warnings: Sex, language

Part Three

I never thought that I was so blind  
I can finally see the truth  
It's me for you

Tonight you can't imagine that I'm by your side  
Cuz it's never gonna be the truth  
Too far for you

But can you hear me say?  
Don't throw me away  
And there's no way out  
I gotta hold you somehow

I wanna I wanna I wanna touch you  
You wanna touch me too  
Everyday but all I have is time  
Our loves the perfect crime

I wanna I wanna I wanna touch you  
You wanna touch me too  
Every way and when they set me free  
Just put your hands on me

Take everything that I know you'll break  
And I give my life away  
So far for you  
But can you hear me say  
Don't throw me away  
There's no way out  
I gotta hold you somehow

I wanna I wanna I wanna touch you  
You wanna touch me too  
Everyday but all I have is time  
Our loves the perfect crime

I wanna I wanna I wanna touch you  
You wanna touch me too  
Every way and when they set me free  
Just put your hands on me

Tonight I'm weak  
It's just another day without you  
That I can't sleep  
I gave the world away for you to

Hear me say  
Don't throw me away  
There's no way out  
I gotta hold you somehow

All I wanna do is touch you  
I wanna I wanna I wanna touch you  
You wanna touch me too  
Everyday but I all I have is time  
Our loves the perfect crime

I wanna I wanna I wanna touch you  
You wanna touch me too  
Every way and when they set me free  
Just put your hands on me  
\- I Wanna, By: The All American Rejects

/

Florida was a place Dick had always wanted to visit. It was one of those little kid fantasies that never got fulfilled. His parents had promised to take him once a long time ago. He had always wanted to go to SeaWorld, Universal Studios, Disneyworld; all of it. He'd always dreamed of visiting it when he was younger. It was a pleasant fantasy that got him away from some of his darker thoughts. It amused him when he was in bad mood to think about dragging Bruce along just to see the disgruntled look on his face when he was told to have fun. It was a silly fantasy now that he was an adult. Yet, it was one of those childhood hopes that never really went away. So when his old college buddies decide to have their own mini reunion in Orlando, Florida, Dick was very tempted to go. There was, of course, his double life and Gotham/Bludhaven holding him back. He knew his own desires did not come above those of the Mission. Normally, he wouldn't have any problem turning down this kind of trip. But it was Florida! He actually regretted having to say no.

When he mentioned it over breakfast to Bruce, Tim, and Alfred, they all swapped conspiratorial looks. Tim nonchalantly remarked that Gotham would be just fine without him and that Robin could handle anything. In Tim's words 'just go so you'll stop being weird and moping all the time.' Dick scowled at that. He was not still moping. Alfred gently pointed out that a vacation was a good idea. He also mentioned that Dick had been far too involved with his double life since being freed from Ivy and Harley. Dick did have to agree with that point. He had become somewhat of a workaholic. Action had kept his mind from wandering. It had been nearly a year now since his imprisonment, but the effects were still lingering. He would never take for granted the feeling of the wind in his hair as he glided between buildings ever again. When Dick looked over to see what Bruce's reaction was the man barely looked up from his coffee. 'Just go' had been his words of wisdom.

Dick found himself dialing his friend Brian's number an hour later and explaining that yes, he would come.

That was how he found himself on vacation in Florida with three of his close college friends; Brian, Vicky, and Sam. It was especially good to see Brian again. He hadn't seen his friend since he got drafted into the NFL. This was a rare occasion for all of them to catch up. Dick was very glad he hadn't passed up this chance. It was the first real vacation he'd taken in years after all. It'd been a great week so far. They'd visited all the places he'd ever wanted to go to. He had pigged out on more food than he ever had in his life. He got boozed up, went clubbing, surfing, scuba diving, and whatever else they could think to fit in during their days. He was having more fun than he'd ever had in a very long time. Spending time with his friends was a wonderful relief for him.

The time passed almost to quickly. They were down to only two days left until it was time to go home. They decided to go jet skiing at a beach on the opposite side of the state. They wanted to try out a different place less populated by tourists. Dick was more than willing to be dragged along. He was truly enjoying the opportunity to be a free spirit. Worries had been placed as far back in his mind as he could push them.

They left early in the morning and drove for an hour before stopping for a bathroom and refreshment break. They pulled into a city surrounded by lakes. A family run diner caught his friends' eyes. Breakfast was suddenly a very good idea. Dick laughed as they pulled him into the diner with the promise of pancakes. Breakfast was a boisterous affair with great food. Dick hadn't felt this calm and relaxed in a long time. He joked, teased, and laughed down the street as they walked back to their car to continue their journey. Across the street a shimmer of red hair caught the edge of his peripheral vision and made him freeze mid-step.

"Dick?" Brian shook his shoulder gently.

He didn't react. His mind was stuck on an endless loop of 'no way in hell.' It just couldn't be her. She'd been gone for a while. She'd told him she was going somewhere far away from Gotham. This just had to be his mind playing tricks on him. But there was no way he could forget the curve of her figure, especially not the shape of those hips. The brilliant red hair set his instincts to screaming. It couldn't be Poison Ivy. This was woman was well dressed and proper looking, pushing a baby stroller. A baby…

He felt his stomach twist. No way…

He was running across the street before he even realized he was moving. It wasn't like him to act this rashly, but he didn't care. He had to know if she was Ivy or if it was just his brain screwing with him. He had to look this woman in the eyes to know it wasn't her before he could relax. He caught up to the lady and grabbed her by the elbow, jerking her around. She spun about with a gasp. Her hand was already flying up to try to smack him in the face. He caught her wrist easily as he stared down into her face. Jade green eyes stared back at him, wide with surprise and anger. She didn't recognize him thanks to the sunglasses and the baseball cap, but he'd know her anywhere.

"Ivy," he breathed.

Her entire posture changed; tensing up and moving into a defensive position. "Who are you?" She snapped fiercely, sending chills down his spin. How many times had she spoken to him in that same voice? He was tempted to let go and pretend like he had made a mistake. He wanted to just walk away. Something wouldn't allow him to.

He pulled off his sunglasses and snatched his hat off. When his blue eyes met hers, he saw the recognition. Her eyes swept from his hair, to the curve of his jaw, and down the length of his body. She knew him now. There was no way she could forget his body either.

"How-?" She began.

"Dick! Man, what the hell?" Brian finally caught up to him. He grabbed Dick's sleeve, trying to pull him back a few steps to give the lady some space. He looked between the two, catching the weird vibe. "Sorry, ma'am, my friend's still a little hung over…"

"Brian," Dick cut him off with a sharp wave of his hand. His friend shut up instantly. He'd only seen Dick act this intense a few times. It frankly weirded him out a little. The smaller guy looked so different when he was this way; like he was capable of anything. "You guys go on ahead without me. I'll catch up later."

"But-," Brian started to protest.

"Just go. Alright, I'm fine. She's a…friend," He managed to say. He ignored the pointed look she sent his way.

Brian gave him an unconvinced look. "I don't feel right about leaving you here."

"It's fine, seriously, Brian. Please just go."

The hint of desperation in Dick's voice finally convinced Brian to back off. Whatever was going on between these two was very serious and none of his business.

"Ok, Dick. Just…we'll be back through around 6 tonight. Meet us back at the diner for dinner," Brian said, squeezing his friend's arm before he turned to walk away.

"I will. Thanks, man. I'll see you later," Dick smiled, but it was wane at best.

Ivy said nothing until Brian was back across the street. "Dick?" She arched an eyebrow at him.

"I think you know who I am, but for both our sakes I'll introduce myself. My name's Dick Grayson," He conceded. There was no point hiding his name from her anyways.

She stepped back warily. "How'd you find me?"

"It wasn't intentional. I'm supposed to be on vacation," he smiled bitterly at the irony of the situation. He was on a vacation to forget about this woman, and here she was in front of him.

"What do you want then?" She snapped angrily. Her anger was just a front for her fear and elation. She didn't know how to react now that he was here in front of her. She'd never expected to see him again.

"I just-."

The soft wail of a baby crying cut him off and brought his attention back to the stroller. He belatedly realized she'd been standing protectively in front of it the whole time. That was so unlike him not to take notice of something that obvious. But she'd thrown him so far off his game that he was missing things he normally wouldn't. Ivy reached into the stroller and scooped up the protesting baby. She pressed the child to her chest, letting the baby's little face snuggle into her neck. She effectively hid the baby from his wondering gaze. He narrowed his eyes at her weird behavior. The baby fussed unhappily.

"I know, sweety," she cooed gently, rocking slightly. She glanced up at him. "I have to go. My son needs to be fed." She tried to turn away.

"Oh hell no," He snarled, surprised at his own voice as much as she was. It had been a long time since she'd heard him speak like that to her. "You and I have to talk…about a lot of things. I'm not gonna just let you walk away."

She glared at him. The baby began to cry, sensing her distress. She patted the boy's back. "Fine," she said peevishly. She placed the baby back into the stroller and began to walk. He followed her, only a step behind. He realized that he had automatically fallen into the heeling position he'd had trained into him when he'd been a pet. He picked up his pace until he was walking in step with her. There was no way he was going to defer to her like she had ever owned him. He wasn't hers; even if his body or mind didn't entirely believe him.

He followed her to a modest looking apartment building. He held the door while she pushed the stroller through into the front hallway. His eyes swept over every detail of the worn looking hall. The place was pretty clean, considering the age and worn nature of the building. His brain was automatically taking in the number of apartments, stairs, entrances and exits. He forced himself to stop acting like he was preparing for a trap or a hostage situation. He kept up with her as she moved down the hall to the last door on the right. He stayed a respectful distance away as she unlocked the door and pushed the stroller through. The door remained open for him to come in, despite him half expecting her to slam it in his face. He hesitated before stepping into the apartment.

The apartment was larger than he would have expected from the outside of the building. It had a big living room/dining room area, kitchen, and down the short hall he could see three doors. One for the master bedroom, one for the second bedroom, and the other for the bathroom, he assumed. There were various baby related items around the room like a changing table, swing, and a playmate. It felt weird to see it all there. While he was taking it all in, she had picked up the baby and moved into the kitchen to make a bottle. He stood awkwardly in the living room. He wasn't sure what to do with himself. He'd never been in a situation quite like this. She walked back into the living room and settled onto the couch. She arranged the baby in her arms to a more comfortable position before giving the baby boy his bottle.

"Sit down," she sighed. "You're making me nervous."

He blinked in surprise at that admission. At another time, she would never have said such a thing. He moved slowly towards the couch. A flash of a different couch and laying there naked with his head in her lap briefly swept through his mind. He swallowed hard, pushing away the thought. He sank down onto the couch slowly and perched on the edge of a cushion.

"So this is what you meant by somewhere warm and safe," he remarked, saying the first thing that came to mind.

Ivy huffed a small laugh at that. "Yes."

"What name are you going by now?" He asked quietly, not wanting to disturb the feeding baby.

"Payton Ives," she replied, looking up at him briefly before turning her attention back to her son. There was so much emotion in those eyes that Dick was taken aback, before she turned her face away. He was sure he hadn't just imagined the anxious hope radiating from that jade green gaze.

"It suits you," he said awkwardly. He felt to hot for his skin. Being near her was reminding his body of all the things they'd done together. He felt discomfited and tense essentially alone with her in the same room for the first time in nearly a year. It was more than just feeling ill at ease though. It was excitement, fear, longing… "What's his name?" Dick inquired, gesturing at the baby. He was desperate to fill up the silence that was growing thicker with each second neither spoke. The baby was an oddity to him as well. He knew she wasn't supposed to be able to have children and had always wanted her own family. Had she adopted this little boy? Was the baby just another layer to the identity of Payton Ives, so people would ask fewer questions about her?

"William Ives," she answered softly.

"Hey, Will," Dick smiled softly, leaning over to touch the little baby's chubby hand. The little fingers uncurled to reach out and wrap around his finger. Dick's eyebrows shot up at the strength in that tiny little grip. The boy was hanging on so tight his knuckles were turning white. "Good grip, little guy," he chuckled. He was a softie for kids, especially babies, and for some reason babies loved him.

"Would you like to hold him?"

Dick glanced up, shocked by the question. She'd been very protective of the baby so far. Why was she offering to let him hold William now? He couldn't quite figure out what the look on her face meant. Her eyes were apprehensive. Not the look of a mother who wanted to hand over her child. "Uh…sure." He conceded, despite the nervous vibe that was coming off her in waves.

She carefully transferred the baby over into his arms. He settled back further into the couch, cradling the boy in his arms and holding the bottle steady. It'd been a while since he'd held a baby, especially one so small. It brought back memories of his travels through Africa and Asia.

"Would you like something to drink?" She asked, jumping to her feet.

"No, I'm-."

But she was already out of the room and in the kitchen. Her behavior was beginning to set off alarm bells in his head. She was acting erratic, which was not normal coming from her. She was usually very precise and careful in most things she did. Was his presence throwing her off too? Was she as frightened and excited to see him as he was to see her? Or was it because he posed a potential threat to the baby? But then why would she hand him her son if she felt like that?

He looked down at the baby in question. For the first time, he got a really good look at the boy. The baby was adorable. Not the adorable most people cooed about and never meant, because the kid usually wasn't. No, this boy was honestly absolutely beautiful. He had a perfect round head, chubby cheeks, button nose, dark pink, perfectly formed lips, and chubby little limps and body. He had a thatch of jet black hair that looked like a Mohawk on the top of his head. Dick smiled at that. He stroked his thumb over the baby's fist that was still hanging doggedly onto his finger. The tiny fingers twitched and flexed around his fore finger.

"I bet you're a lady killer already, Will. You're a good looking little guy," Dick spoke gently to the baby.

At the sound of his voice, Will let go of the bottle nipple and opened his eyes to regard the person talking to him. Dick felt like someone punched him in the gut. Beautiful twilight blue eyes were staring up at him; eyes that were exactly the same color as his. The clunk of glasses being put down on the coffee table startled him. He looked up at Ivy, who was watching him cautiously.

"Ivy, how old is Will?" He asked faintly. He felt like someone was slowly choking him. He couldn't have spoken any louder. What he was thinking was impossible. It just couldn't be…

She closed her eyes and breathed out slowly. "2 months."

It all clicked into place. The timing was just right. The baby's hair and eye color. The anxiety in Ivy's face. It all resolved into focus. All the clues had been there, but he'd been ignoring them until there was to much evidence to avoid. He felt slightly sick to his stomach. "Shit," he gasped, feeling emotion welling up inside him and threatening to choke him for real. He curled in around the baby in his arms. Will warbled softly in his arms, little hands battering lightly at his chest. Tears welled up in the corners of his eyes before he could think to stop them. It was all to much at once. It was threatening to overwhelm him. Part of him was in complete disbelief. It couldn't be possible...

"Really?" He whispered past the lump in his throat as she sat down next to him.

A tentative smile touched her lips. "Yes."

Dick's eyes couldn't seem to leave the baby's face. Every detail was now so deeply important. He reached up to trace the soft features of the little boy's face—his son's face. Holy shit. His hands shook as the full reality of the situation started to sink in. He'd never thought he'd be able to have a family. It had been a silly fantasy he had known would never happen. His life would never allow for it. Yet, now he was a father. He had a son.

He had a son!

"William," he murmured. The little boy blinked up at him and warbled again. "That's a strong name."

Ivy touched his arm and despite himself, he leaned into her touch. They were both quiet for a long time, regarding the baby who had fallen asleep in Dick's arms. Ivy finally stood up, gently took the baby, and went to lay him down in his bedroom.

"Was that the real purpose for capturing me?" Dick asked, soon as she was back in the room. "I thought you weren't able to have children. Did you find some way to change that?"

"No, as far as I knew I wasn't supposed to be able to bear children. I don't know how he was possible. William is a miracle. And, I just wanted to have you. You were the only man that ever caught my eye," she admitted. "I wanted to know what it was like to have you, before I left. Harley's reasons were purely entertainment. She had no idea what I wanted."

"Not really the best way to go about getting my attention," he said incredulously. "There are simpler ways to do that."

She smirked. "Perhaps, but not quite as enjoyable."

That expression he knew well. Here was the real Ivy, under the new mother and proper lady. He was surprised to feel relieved to see her that way.

"And it was enjoyable. You know it was," she walked closer as she pointed out that fact.

He had enjoyed it. Ivy had never hurt him during that time. Treated him as a pet, belittled him, and humiliated him, but never hurt. Then as soon as Harley was out of the picture she had been different with him. She'd still pampered him like someone would a dog, but he had become a person again to her.

"It wasn't just, because I wanted you," Ivy continued, sitting down next to him. Close to him. He suppressed the urge to lie in her lap. A fucking year and he still wanted to move like he was trained. "I wanted a way out. One with a new life that had meaning. No more crimes, prisons, poisons, and insanity. I needed something more than my own motivation to walk away from it all."

He definitely didn't begrudge her that. Hell, he'd even tried to get out himself. He'd quickly found that he couldn't. He was a crime fighter. It was in his blood now. He trained to long and loved it to much to walk away. Ivy didn't have that. She used to be someone before she lost it all to dementia. She'd been a brilliant botanist and a respected person in her field of study. She'd had talent and money. Who wouldn't want that back?

"When I found out I was having a baby I had an even better reason to walk away. Every woman desires at some point to be a mother," she kept talking. "I'd always wanted to be a wife and mother with the big house, a dog, two kids, and a beautiful garden. Somehow, I got lost…"

"I get it," he broke in. Suddenly, the dream of living in that house with the yard, Ivy, and a child didn't seem so ludicrous. He could picture it again so clearly. "Really. I do get it."

She looked relieved.

"It doesn't mean I can forget what happened or that there's a little boy asleep in that room who's my son," saying it aloud made his head spin. Holy shit, he was a father! He swallowed hard. "I don't think I can forgive you for hiding him from me."

She went tense beside him on the couch, radiating fear, anger, and desperate resolve. She was willing to fight him and he respected that. In fact, the fury in her gaze sent a bolt of lust through him so strong it almost took his breath away. No matter what had happened or how, he'd come to admit that he felt something for her. Certainly more than he should given all that they were and all he'd been through at her hands. He knew she felt it to. She'd allowed him in here and let him get close to Will, then divulged such carefully cultivated secrets. That was proof enough that she felt something for him.

"I'm not going to do anything," he said simply. "I won't take away your life or your son."

The tension seemed to bleed out of her slowly. "Thank you," she managed to say.

"You're welcome. From what I've seen you're a good mother. Kids need their mothers," He remarked a little sadly.

Her smile was full of sad understanding.

"Can I ask you something?" He spoke up after they were quiet for a moment.

She nodded expectantly.

"I asked once, but this time be honest." He leaned towards her a little. "Why me?"

"Because I always thought you were beautiful, even back when you were Robin. You ran around in those stupid green tights and that red cape, but you were passionate, brave, and always smiling," She answered honestly. "You are so bright."

He tilted his head and impulsively kissed her softly. It was just a chaste press of the lips, but it sent sparks of awareness dancing through his body. Her fingers were warm on his face as she cupped his cheek. "I missed you," he found himself confessing. "I thought I was crazy for missing you. When I found out you'd left me I thought I was gonna lose it. It wasn't the drugs that made me feel that way either…" He reached out to grab her hips, he tugged gently, and when she didn't resist, he pulled her onto his lap. He couldn't stand not to touch her any longer. He slid his fingers up to bury them in her fiery red hair. "Please, tell me you cared about me…even a little."

"Very much," she whispered against his lips. He closed his eyes and shivered as her fingers traced his jaw. "I missed you," she admitted, "and I never wanted to leave you."

He pulled her into a kiss. He sank into it, losing his senses and worries in the feel of her mouth. Memories flashed through his mind of all the kisses they'd shared. Not one of them had ever felt quite like this. He never wanted to come up for air. He slipped his tongue into her mouth to taste her. Her flavor burst across his tongue; just as sweet and intoxicating as ever. He tilted his head and deepened the kiss further.

She kissed him back just as desperately. Suddenly their hands were everywhere on each other, yanking at clothes and tossing them aside. Dick needed to feel her skin under his palms before he could believe this was all real. He needed to believe that he had really found her again, and that this wasn't all some wonderful, crazy dream. Her shirt and bra were gone instantly it seemed like. He had no idea where his shirt had gone to or how it had even gotten off. He sighed against her throat when her hands slid over his chest and belly like she was re-learning the shape of him.

He palmed her breasts and rubbed his thumbs over the peak of her nipples. She whimpered, arching into his touch. Her fingers worked frantically at his belt and pants until she had them open. He lifted his hips to help her yank his pants and underwear off. He groaned when his cock finally reached open air. She pushed back out of his embrace until she was perched on the edge of his thighs. She looked down at him, taking in every detail of his perfect body. She thought she'd never have the chance to see him in all his naked glory again. Sometimes it felt like she had romanticized how beautiful he had been without clothes. Not a bit of him had been over imagined. He was as beautiful and flawless as she remembered.

"You should never be allowed to wear clothes," she whispered fiercely.

He huffed out a laugh as he ran his palms up her thighs. "I feel the same about you." He unzipped her skirt and helped her slip out of it. A moment later, it was tossed onto the floor with the rest of the pile of clothes. Her panties joined the growing pile. He barely got a moment to appreciate her nude body before she was sliding all the way back into his lap and dragging his mouth into a kiss. They both moaned as their chests pressed together. Dick's arms came up to wrap around her back to hug her close. She fit against his body like she was made for him. He broke the kiss and buried his face in her neck. He closed his eyes as her hair drifted across his cheek.

God, how he loved this woman. He'd been holding the feelings back for so long. It was freeing to finally feel them again. He shivered when she scraped her nails along his scalp. He lifted his head to look at her. She stared back, caught by the emotion in his deep blue eyes. Dick drifted his hands down the length of her spin and over the curve of her backside. He gripped her ass and lifted her up until she was positioned over his cock. He locked eyes with her as he brought her down onto him. They both gasped as he slid inside her. Dick's head fell back against the couch as his body registered how wonderful, warm, and tight she felt around him. She felt so good to him. No one else had ever felt this amazing to him. He was so overwhelmed by how he felt that the whole world seemed to slip away except for the woman in his arms.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and sighed happily. She felt complete again. She finally had the one thing that had been missing from her life. She'd missed him so much the last year. No one could ever make her feel as safe, whole, and wanted as this man did. The look of wonder and pleasure on his face made her feel appreciated. The feeling of him inside her and around her was exquisite. He'd made love to her a few times before she'd left him, but this time it felt different. The feelings behind the act were more real and tangible than ever before.

They found a slow, easy rhythm; more than content to take their time. Hands and mouths trailed across each other's skin. It felt so gratifying to taste and touch each other again after wanting to do so for such a long time. It made everything so much more intense and intimate. Dick loved the flex and slide of her body on and around him. He caught her lips up in a deep, tongue twisting kiss. She whimpered into his mouth. A heart beat later, he was moaning into her mouth as she dragged her nails down his sides. Shit, how he loved the feel of her nails on his skin. He broke the kiss and reached up to bury his hand in her hair. He pulled her head back so he could lavish her neck with nips and kisses. She cried out as he thrust up into her harder with each roll of his hips.

"Bird," she whispered in his ear, her arms tightening around him. "My bird."

He moaned brokenly and buried his face in her neck. Maybe her endearment should have sounded silly or even childish. It didn't. It was a reminder of all they'd been and could be. The nick name sounded sweet and so full of caring to him. She had truly missed him. And she truly cared for him enough to call him hers without any pretenses.

"Ivy," he sighed, surging into her. "Mine." It was all he could get out as his emotions and his orgasm suddenly overwhelmed him. He dug his fingers into her thighs as he came harder than he had in longer than he could remember. She gasped and froze beneath him as she came too. Damn, he wished he had a camera so he could get a picture of how she looked right that second. Her hair was wild around her face and shoulders. Her skin glowed gold in the lamplight. His bite marks were already showing up bright red against the paleness of her skin. She looked like a siren.

She collapsed against him a moment later. He wrapped his arms around her and shifted them so they were laying out length wise across the couch with her on top of him. She shimmed down a little so she could rest her head comfortably on his chest. She closed her eyes and listened to his heart beat throbbing steadily under her ear. She'd imagined this kind of scene over the last year so many times. It had seemed like a fantasy that would never come true. She'd cut ties with everything and everyone from Gotham. He wasn't supposed to ever find her. Yet, somehow he had and she was so glad for it. She glanced up to see that his eyes had drifted shut. He was more relaxed than she had ever seen him. She remembered when he wouldn't even sleep around her and Harley. Then they'd begun to share a bed after the blond had gone. He actually had begun to sleep next to her. It was such a strange phenomenon to know this man had gone from not trusting her in the slightest to having complete trust in her. It was more proof of the sincerity of his emotions.

"We're gonna have to figure this all out," he said softly.

She ran the tips of her fingers down the muscled edges of his chest and stomach. "I know."

"I love you," he whispered.

She rose up abruptly, startled and so hopeful she could barely breathe. "Really?"

He smiled at the irony of her saying that when he'd said the same about finding out he was a father. "Yes."

"I've loved you since the first time I saw you." She told him. He huffed out a pleased laugh. She kissed him gently. "Maybe it was the cape."

"I thought it was my fabulous green tights." He smirked.

"They definitely showed off your legs and your very fine backside." She reached down to grab his ass. She smirked back at him when she felt his cock twitch against her belly. She caught his gaze and gave him an honest smile. "I love you."

He smiled back and raised his head up to kiss her lightly. He guided her back down to lie on his chest. He reached up to the back of the couch and pulled the throw blanket lying across the top over them. They lay together like that until William woke up from his nap.

/

"Please tell me you at least have someone to help you," Dick said. He was he laying on the floor beside William's play mat watching the baby stare fixedly at the bright colors. He was surprised when the baby swung one little fist at the dangling stuffed puppy above him head and hit it square on. Two months old and the boy was already beating things up. "I know it's not easy being a single parent, especially with such a new baby."

Ivy smiled at the scene in front of her. She sat on the couch, letting Dick have his time near their baby. She understood best of all how awe inspiring and disbelieving it was to have a son. He was obviously still in the disbelieving stage. It was cute to see him watch and touch William, as if checking to make sure all his little parts were there and working properly. The stunned look on Dick's face hadn't quite gone away yet either. She was overjoyed to have both of her boys together at long last. "I have a few people," she replied.

"Good. Who are they?" He looked over at her seriously.

His protectiveness is endearing as well, Ivy thought. "Nicole, who lives on the second floor, sometimes babysits. Jennifer, my assistant at the flower shop, sometimes comes by to help out. And my sister Patricia is my biggest supporter."

Dick grimaced. "Sister?"

"Yes. She's the reason I came back to Florida." Ivy answered.

"How much does she know?"

"All of it," she said. "She was the one who helped me get back on my feet here."

Dick frowned. "You've put her in a lot danger-."

"I'm aware of that. I had to make my amends," the red head retorted. "She and I used to be very close. It hurt her a lot when I lost contact with her. I didn't want her to be ashamed of me anymore."

"I understand. Making amends is never easy, but it is necessary," he soothed. It had been hard to tell Bruce he was sorry and come to terms with him. It was probably one of the hardest things he'd ever done. "So Patricia…she knows about me?"

"She knows about 'Nightwing', yes, but not about Dick Grayson. I probably will tell her that. I don't want to keep secrets from her anymore."

Dick sighed and rolled onto his back. He scooped up William before laying the baby on his chest. Will seemed to melt onto Dick's body. The baby looked more than happy as Dick stroked one big palm down the length of Will's tiny back in a repetitive motion. Ivy had never seen William so at ease with a new person. "This is gonna get complicated."

Ivy smiled softly at her boys looking so content together. "Not at all." Dick lifted his head up to frown at her in confusion. "I already have my new identity set up here. Payton Ives is a second cousin to Patricia. The real Payton disappeared a long time ago (most likely dead). I look enough like her to pass as her easily. Patricia owns the flower shop officially, so there is no record of my information there. If anyone comes looking or gets suspicious all they will find is information about Payton Ives."

"Sounds like you had it all planned out."

"I did my best to leave no trace behind. I've to many enemies who could ruin everything. You finding me was a happy accident." She replied.

"Yeah," he agreed. "I think you should improve your disguise a little bit though."

"How so?"

"You're hair definitely needs to be changed. You should probably dye it blond or a lighter strawberry blond. It'd be best to cut it and style it differently as well. You might want to wear some colored contacts as well. Did Payton have green eyes?" He asked curiously.

Ivy shook her head. "More like hazel."

"Definitely colored contacts then. The clothes are good change. I like how sophisticated you look in them," he grinned impishly. "Of course, you look better with no clothes on…"

She smirked. "I believe we just recently had this conversation."

"We did," he acknowledged with a sly smile before trailing off into thoughtful silence.

She could tell he was mulling over something else equally important as her disguise. "What is it?"

"I want to help you," he said carefully. Before she could protest, he continued. "Not because I feel obligated or that I owe you something, because you have my son." He glanced down at Will who was struggling to lift his head high enough to stare at Dick's face. He smiled down at his son's big curious, blue eyes. "I want to help, because this is my family now; you and Will. You're mine and I want to take care of you."

Ivy looked faintly like she might cry. "Alright," she whispered. She'd never imagined that she would get this kind of chance to be with him. They were a family. It was hard for her to believe that she was being given something so wonderful, so easily. For so long, she felt like she'd been struggling in vain for a mission she'd lost sight of ages ago. Now that she had given up being Poison Ivy, she felt like she didn't struggle anymore. Her life was easier and stable. She was finally getting everything she'd always wanted.

"Whatever you need, just tell me and it's yours," he promised sincerely. "I have a trust fund set up that will keep me living comfortably for a long time to come. I also invested into a motorcycle company in Japan that I think will make a great profit." For once, he was very grateful for the wealth at his disposal. He was by no means as rich as his step father, but he was financially sound. It was all worth it if it meant helping his new family live easily.

He sat up carefully, making sure not to jostle William, who had fallen asleep. He set Will carefully into his swing before sauntering back towards Ivy. She watched the sly smile grow on his face with an amused smirk. "Since the no clothes issue keeps coming up, I think we should try to be naked as much as possible," he grinned wickedly. He grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet. "So how about you show me the bedroom and we can get back to being naked…"

She chuckled as he dragged down the hall into her bedroom and swung the door mostly shut behind them.

/

"Patricia, I need you to watch William tomorrow," Payton said, without preamble. The two hours that William had been asleep had gone by far to fast for her. She could spend hours in Dick's arms and it still would never be long enough. She needed more than just a few hours to make up for all the lost time of the last year. That was why she decided that tomorrow would be their day together. Dick had chosen to stay a few extra days with her, despite the risk of Bruce Wayne becoming suspicious. They needed their time together. There was more than just sex that drove Dick's need to stay longer. He had a family he wanted to be near. He and Ivy had to many complications that needed to be settled before he could leave again. He could not risk bringing trouble down on his new family because he'd been careless.

"Sure, Pay. No problem. Did something happen?" Patricia asked worriedly.

Payton smiled at her sister's concern, and glanced over at the young man sitting on her floor. Dick was once again enjoying his son's company. She smiled softly to herself. She would never get enough of seeing them together. "Something very good happened, but I need the whole day tomorrow to sort it out."

Dick looked over at that statement and smirked. She gave him a warning glare. He just grinned and continued to play with William's little feet. The baby wriggled and smiled brightly.

"Alright. Do you want me to come pick him up? I have a few errands I need to do in town anyways."

"Yes, that's fine." Pay replied. "I'll see you tomorrow morning. Thank you, Pat."

"You're welcome. See you in the morning."

Payton hung up the phone with a satisfied smirk. "Well that's been arranged."

"Anything special planned for tomorrow," Dick asked innocently.

"Oh yes…," She answered with a sly smile. "I think you're long over do for a good bath."

Dick couldn't keep the excited smile off his face. "Me too. I'll even sing to you if you want."

"Oh you'll sing, my bird," she walked over to him and pressed a kiss to his lips. Dick stood up to pull her into his arms and kiss her more thoroughly.

William made a silly squawking noise as if the protest the mushy display he was being forced to witness. The two adults broke apart laughing.

"Listen, I gotta go meet up with my friends," Dick said, stepping away from her. "Brian's probably worried sick and he won't let me stay here until I explain things. I'll be back soon as I can…I mean, if that ok." He tried not to show his worry at being turned away.

She smiled at his flustered expression. "You better come back, Bird. "

Dick sighed in relief. "I will." He leaned down and kissed her gently. "See you in a little while."

/

Dick found his friends back at the diner, exactly as Brian had said they would be. They greeted him with smiles and hugs. They were happy to see him, safe and sound. Dinner passed by in excited story telling as they told him about jet skiing. They asked after his day. He merely replied that it had been very good. The rest of the dinner passed by in comfortable companionship. Vicky and Sam headed back out to the car, preparing to head out on the road again. Brian pulled Dick aside just out of ear shot of the others.

"So who was that woman?" Brian asked bluntly.

"Would you believe me if I said she kidnapped me and held me hostage as her sex slave?" Dick smiled cheekily.

Brian rolled his eyes. "Like that would ever happen."

"Right," Dick chuckled. Because it really had, he thought. "Honestly though, remember when I was gone for 2 months last year?"

"Yeah. It was pretty weird, especially since you'd only been back in town for a few months after your 'world tour.'" Brian gave him a skeptical look.

"Yeah, well…anyways, I was with her. We were pretty…involved." He said carefully.

"No kidding. 2 months with her, huh? What happened? Was it an attempt at eloping gone wrong?" Brian asked curiously.

Dick laughed. He couldn't help himself. "Uh, no. She got scared of how intense things were getting between us, especially in such a short amount of time. So she left me. I returned to the real world. I attempted to find her and never did." It was really hard to give his friend a carefully omitted truth.

"So meeting her here was completely accidental," Brian concluded. He knew his friend wasn't lying. He remembered the complete shock on his friend's face when he'd spotted that woman.

"Exactly. It's like a movie drama, right?" Dick grinned.

Brian frowned worriedly. "Yeah. It's kinda crazy."

Dick laughed sheepishly. If only Brian knew the half of it.

"That baby's yours, isn't it?" Brian asked shrewdly after a moment.

Dick's mouth fell open in shock. "How the hell-?"

"I caught a look at him. It was pretty obvious, Dickie. That cute little guy looked just like you."

"Damn," Dick sighed, and then smiled brightly. "He's mine. His name is William."

"Strong name."

"He'll live up to it, I'm sure."

"I'm guessing that was a surprise too?" Brian inquired, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

Dick nodded. "I had no idea about that."

"So what are you gonna do?"

"Do?"

Brian gave him an irritated look. "Don't act like you're dense. I hate that."

"Alright," Dick held up his hands in surrender. "I'm staying here for another day or two at least. She and I need to figure a few things out."

"And after that? What are you going to tell Bruce? You know he's not gonna like this." Brian said seriously.

"I guess, I'll go home and arrange things from there. I'll take care of Bruce. Just do me a favor and don't say anything about a baby to him. He'll have a cow. If he asks, tell him I met a girl. I'll break the rest to him when I get back to Gotham," Dick replied.

Brian had a feeling Dick had no intentions of telling Bruce the truth about the woman or the baby. It wasn't his place to interfere. "I'll keep my mouth shut." He agreed. He may not approve of the lying, but Dick was his best friend. He'd do anything for him. "Just answer me this and I'll leave you alone about it after this."

"Ok." Dick agreed.

"Do you love her?"

Dick smiled lopsidedly. "I'm head over heels for her."

"Ok," Brian smiled, but it was a little sad. "Be careful. You know I just want you to be happy."

"I will. I'll see you back in Gotham." Dick answered and pulled his friend into a quick, fierce hug.

Brian hugged back. "Right. I'll see you later."

Dick slapped him playfully on the back and stepped away. He strode a way with a bounce in his step. He had his family to go back to.

/

Patricia stopped by her sister's apartment mid-morning to pick up William. She was a little surprised by Payton's request for her to babysit. It was a somewhat rare occurrence and usually involved some kind of emergency, before Payton would let anyone babysit William on the days she had off of work. She treasured her time with her little boy; her miracle baby that she loved with all her heart. Patricia wasn't going to pry. She knew Payton would explain the situation to her later.

She blinked in surprise when Payton opened her apartment door. The younger woman looked radiantly happy. It was a look Patricia had not seen since they were both girls. Not even when Payton had held William in her arms the first time had she shown so much unfettered joy. Alarm bells started to ring in Patricia's mind, but she wisely kept her mouth shut. She would bid her time.

"Good morning, Payton," she smiled at her sister.

"It is a very good morning, Pat," Pay smiled back, stepping aside to let her sister in.

Patricia hummed. "Good news?"

"Something like that." Pay scooped William up from his play mat and kissed him gently. "He's ready to go."

Patricia took the baby from her sister and cooed gently at him. She loved the little boy almost as much as her own children. "You ready to play with Auntie Pat? We're gonna have a great time together, huh?" She sing songed at the baby. He smiled brightly, all gums and charming baby joy. "What time would you like him back, Pay?"

"Are you still planning on coming over for dinner, Pat?"

"Will you be done sorting out whatever it is you're working on by then?"

Ivy smiled mischievously. "Oh, I think I'll be done by then. Would you pick up some milk, eggs, and broccoli on your way back?"

"Now I'm a maid service!" Pat rolled her eyes at her sister. "Sure, Pay. I'll be back around 5 then."

"Thanks again, Pat. Really," Ivy gave her sister a quick hug.

Pat's eyebrows went up at the simple, but happy gesture. "I'll see you later."

"Later. I love you, Will. Be good for your Aunt!"

Patricia shook her head as Ivy hurried her out the door and then shut it behind her. She glanced down at the baby in her arms. Will blinked back up at her in bemusement. "That's exactly how I feel. Your mother is acting very odd."

Soon as the door shut behind Ivy's sister, Dick came out of his hiding place in the shadows of the hallway. He hadn't even bothered to get completely dressed. He wore only a pair of old faded pajama pants that barely clung to his hips. "Does she always come over for dinner? I thought she had kids?" Dick asked curiously.

"Her ex-husband usually takes the kids Friday and Saturday. He travels a lot so he let Patricia have full custody as long as he got to see them sometimes. So they set up this arrangement. When the kids are with their dad, Pat usually spends time with me." Ivy explained.

"William will be alright with her?" Dick asked, just a touch worriedly.

"Oh yes," Ivy said, then smiled wickedly, "but what you should be asking is if you'll be alright with me?"

Dick sucked in a quick, excited breath. Payton Ives, the proper lady, had disappeared. The woman staring back at him now was Poison Ivy. The woman who'd captured him and broken him to her will. For a brief wild moment, he wished he was drugged like he had been back then. It'd made life a thing of simplicity and sex. She'd claimed him. He'd reveled in it. He wanted those feelings back.

"Come here, bird," she crooked her fingers.

He gulped, cock already hard as a damn spike and lust roaring through his veins, at the sultry tone in her voice and the possessive look in her eyes. He didn't need drugs to feel owned by her. His heart thudded heavy in his chest as moved towards her. He stopped just inches away from her, but did not reach out to her. It was not his place when he was a pet. She reached out to slide her palms across the hard, chiseled lines of his chest. Her eyes were dilated with lust. He loved when she looked like this; as though she was contemplating how best to devour him.

Without realizing it, he started to reach for her. He blinked in surprise when the world suddenly revolved and he found himself lying on his back on the floor a second later. His vision spun a little from the dizzying impact he'd just made with the floor. She stood over him, hands on her hips and a sly smirk on her lips. His cock twitched hard with want. He hadn't even seen that coming. Fuck. She still had the moves.

"Looks like you've forgotten what it means to be mine. Do you need a reminder of the rules, Bird?" She murmured, low and seductively.

He closed his eyes and took a shaky breath. He needed to regain a little control, because he was about two seconds from losing it. It'd been far too long since he'd been used like this by her. Fuck, he needed it so bad that he could hardly breathe. Just hearing and seeing her like this was enough to push him precariously close to the edge. "Yes," he whimpered.

"You're not allowed to wear clothes. Take them off," she ordered, her sultry voice skating over his nerves and settling in his cock like a tuning fork.

He eagerly scrambled out of his pants. He opened his eyes to watch her face as he peeled off his pants. Her face seemed cool and controlled, but her eyes were smoldering down at him. She wanted him badly. The air between them was charged with sexual tension. He could almost taste her desire in the air. When he was free of his clothes, he lay still once more.

"You are not allowed to touch me unless I tell you to." She continued with her rules as she slowly began to undress. His eyes followed the path her fingers made across her clothes. The tension in his body grew stronger with each piece of attire that slid off her. "You are not allowed to talk."

She stepped over him, bracketing his hips between her ankles, and giving him full view of her nude form. He swallowed hard as his eyes dragged over every creamy, ivory inch of her skin. The room suddenly felt overheated to him. A puddle of pre-cum was already gathering on his lower belly as he stared up at her. Fuck, she was so damn beautiful. She was like the goddess Aphrodite; awe inspiring and devastatingly lovely. Her red hair fell about her shoulders in soft waves. His fingers ached to feel its softness against his skin. Her breasts were as perfectly rounded and full as he remembered. But the thing that threatened to steal his sanity completely was the wonderful sweep of her hips. She had curves that could make even a eunuch weep at the glory of them.

She walked carefully further up his body until she slowly dropped to her knees, straddling his shoulders. He moaned as her sex was held just out of reach of his mouth. She smelled amazingly sweet with that touch of floral aroma that was so uniquely her.

"Kiss me," she whispered, breathlessly.

He was more than happy to do so. He buried his face between her thighs and showed her just how much he missed her with ever kiss, lick, and nip to her sensitive flesh. Above him, she shuddered and cried out. He groaned with lust as her taste and scent overwhelmed his senses. She shivered, reaching down to drag her fingers through his hair and scraping her nails delicately across his scalp. His hips unwittingly thrust up at the electric tingles her nails were creating that skated through his body and ended in his balls. He thrust his tongue inside her and sucked hard, giving as good as he got. She gasped hard and her body trembled around him. She was close to release. He wanted desperately to give it to her. He worked her body with a delicate combination of teeth and tongue until suddenly she was coming apart above him. Her release flooded over his tongue as sweet as honeyed nectar. Her pleasure nearly made him come in response.

Slowly, she pushed herself away from his mouth and slid down his body. He threw his head back, moaning loudly, and arched his back as her sex dragged down his chest and belly followed by the hard peaks of her breasts. Dear God, she was killing him. It was hell trying not to come from sheer tactile overload. She hadn't even touched his cock. Yet, he was sure if she did he would embarrass himself by coming immediately. He closed his eyes again and forced himself to breathe deep. He almost lost it again when she ground her sex against his cock without warning.

"Look at me," she demanded.

His eyes flew open to gaze up at her. His expression was open and vulnerable with lust and need. She couldn't believe how willing he was to let her order him around like this. It was like he'd craved it and now he couldn't get enough of it. Even with sex pollen in his system, his responses had never been this eager and blatantly wanting. His breath rasped harsh his throat as she teased the tip of his cock with her wet sex. It was taking all he had not to grab her hips and thrust high up inside her. He whimpered pleadingly, fingers curling in towards his palms, as he flexed underneath her.

She lifted her hips up, divesting him of any friction that he'd been trying to create. He whined in the back of his throat. His whole body ached for her. He wasn't one to plead, but for her he'd beg until his throat was raw. She chuckled, husky and just a touch mean. His body tensed at the sound. Without any warning, she pressed back into him. A relieved groan escaped him as he slid inside her. The wet, heat of her drove him nearly out of his mind. He thrust deeper into her before he could think to stop himself. She didn't seem to mind. She matched each thrust of his hips with equal abandon, pressing down onto him and taking him in harder each time. They moved together, quick and rough; dirty and perfect in every way. The room filled with the sounds of their voices crying out and bodies sliding together.

Dick was to far gone to hold out for long. His senses were drowning in her. Every touch of her hands, lips, and body were spiraling him closer to losing control. Watching her ruthlessly take her pleasure from him was mind blowing. And the sounds she was making—fuck! He shuddered hard. He grit his teeth, trying desperately to hang on. It felt to good to last though. His balls cinched up tight against his body. Orgasm was half a second away…

She dug her nails into his sides and clawed downwards. He yelped in ecstasy as the pain and pleasure collided in sensation overload inside him. His hips jerked up, driving into her hard as seconds later his pleasure was exploding out of him. He lost touch with reality for a moment. He was blown away by the sheer force of ecstasy that had burned like wildfire through every nerve in his system— leaving him weak and shaking.

He dragged his eyes open when she cried out above him, finding her second release in wake of his own. His hips stuttered and his cock throbbed hard in another brief, intense orgasm at the sight of her coming apart on top of him. Her head was tipped back, back arched, and thighs spread wide across his hips as she came. He drank in the sight of her like a dehydrated wretch faced with the sight of a dripping, crystal clear glass of water. She opened her eyes and smiled down at him, sated and happy. His heart felt like it'd jumped into his throat.

She leaned down, hands resting on either side of his head, and kissed him languorously. "Speak, Bird."

"I love you," he whispered, fervently, and was kissed breathless in response.

/

Dick had missed these baths. The soft, rumbling purr rose in his throat before he could stop it. She chuckled as she massaged his scalp with her nails. The sensual scrape against his skin sent shivers down his spin. Baths had been one of the best parts of being her captive. It could be argued that was where the whole romance between them started.

In this moment, everything felt completely right. It didn't matter that this tub was definitely way to small for two adults. He didn't care that his legs were getting a little cramped in the position he was sitting. The whole world could come to an end right then and he wouldn't give a damn as long as she kept touching him. A year apart had only increased the power her touch had over his body. It seemed hard to believe that once he'd been resentful of the way she made his body feel.

He was pleasantly aching after the morning spent making love to Ivy. After the incredible sex on the living room floor, they'd moved into Ivy's bedroom. They'd dozed together for a short while until Dick's body was ready to go another round. He'd made love to her slow and leisurely. He'd mapped out every inch of her skin with his mouth and hands by the time she starting begging him to take her. Man, he loved it when she got demanding. For once, though, he refused to give into her. He did everything exactly the way he wanted to. He'd made her come three times before he finally allowed himself to let go. By the end, he'd never seen a woman look so deeply satisfied and content.

He hummed happily as she scrubbed a soapy loofa across his chest and abs. Even after all the fantastic sex, this was by far his favorite moment of the day. Just being together with her was enough to satisfy him far deeper than any love making session could. He rubbed his hands over the soft skin of her knees and shins as she lathered soap over his skin. Goosebumps rose on his skin as she pressed kisses onto his neck and shoulder. He sighed contentedly. A sweet song rose into his mind that fit perfectly. He leaned his head back and began to croon softly into her ear.

"Kiss me once and kiss me twice

It's been a long, long time

Haven't felt like this, my dear

Since I can't remember when

It's been a long, long time

You'll never know how many dreams

I dreamed about you

Or just how empty they all seemed with you

So kiss me once, then kiss me twice

Then kiss me once again

It's been a long, long time…"

He trailed off when she tilted his head around and kissed him deeply. He sighed into her mouth as she slid her tongue across his. Oh yes, he thought, I could die happy right now.

/

Patricia pushed the door open, maneuvering carefully through with her arm load of groceries on one side and the baby car seat on the other. Payton was moving around the kitchen, preparing dinner, judging by the sounds of the clinking pots. The older woman didn't think anything of the quiet in the apartment. She made it half way across the living room before she realized there was another presence in the room. A quick glance to side had her stopping up short. A young man was stretched across the couch, dozing peacefully. Soft looking, ink black hair fell across his forehead and his handsome features were relaxed. He looked so very young and gorgeous. She instantly recognized him from the gossip shows she liked to indulge in. Dark blue eyes opened to regard her with interest, making her blush bright red in response.

"Uh, hello," she greeted, flustered by the man's extremely good looks and lithe, muscular body clad only in worn looking jeans.

"Hello," he replied easily. Oh, even his voice was hot! She shifted the groceries in her arm nervously. "You must be Patricia."

"Yes," she smiled awkwardly. "And you are Dick Grayson."

He grinned at that. "Yes, I am."

"Nice to meet you." She said automatically.

"Same." He stood up and took the car seat from her, with little William tucked safely inside it. "Here, let me get him for you."

He smiled disarmingly at Patricia. Her brain refused to find anything intelligent to say as she watched Dick unbuckle William and pick him up. The resemblance between the two was unmistakable. She nearly dropped her groceries in shock.

"Well, I better give these groceries to Pay." She shuffled away a step. She was now very intent on interrogating her sister.

He nodded. "Right." His focus was completely taken up by the baby in his arms. The two of them together made a devastatingly adorable picture.

She turned away and hurried into the kitchen, feeling like her cheeks were on fire. Payton looked up with a smirk as Patricia set the groceries on the counter with a clatter. "Oh my God, Pay! What is Dick Grayson doing in your apartment!" She whispered furiously.

Payton smirked. "He stopped by for a visit."

"Stop being sarcastic! How do you know him?" She pointed out the door way, to where Dick was now lounging on the couch once more like a lazy panther. "And why does your son look exactly like him! You said Will was Nightwing's…"

Payton began to unpack the groceries from the bag as the truth began to dawn on Patricia's face.

"Oh my God!" Patricia tried to keep her amazed reaction quiet, but it was hard. She felt almost faint with shock. "He's-!"

"Yes, he is." Payton smiled as she put the vegetables aside to be cut up.

"Wow, you sure know how to pick 'em. You got a vigilante and a hot millionaire all in one guy," the older woman shook her head in disbelief. "I gotta say, he is gorgeous! And he makes beautiful babies. I can't blame you at all for kidnapping him!"

Payton laughed brightly at that. "He is, indeed. He looks even better without clothes."

Patricia's face flushed bright red at the thought. She poked her head out the door to catch another quick look of the handsome man. "Oh, you lucky woman," Patricia murmured enviously. "I bet he looks fantastic without clothes."

"If it was up to me, and it was for a while, he'd never wear clothes again," Payton smirked, as she began to cut up the tomatoes.

"Oh, right! You kept him naked? How did you keep your hands to yourself when you were in the same room with him?" Patricia asked in amazement.

"I usually didn't," Payton chuckled.

"That is so unfair!" The older woman groaned.

They were quiet for a few minutes as they prepared dinner.

Patricia remarked off handedly. "I can see why you needed all day to sort him out…"

The two glanced at each other before dissolving into giggles.

Patricia sobered up after a moment. "Seriously, though, Pay. How did he find you? I thought you'd left no trace."

"I did. He found me by accident. He was on vacation with some old college friends and just stopped in town for breakfast. He happened to see me out on the street." Payton explained.

"Huh, talk about a greater power being at work," Patricia smiled.

"I'll say," Dick's voice made them both jump and turn towards the doorway.

Payton smiled as Will gurgled as if to admonish them as well. "Hello, beautiful boy," she cooed to her baby.

"Hello," Dick smiled playfully, shifting Will to a more comfortable position in his arms.

Payton gave him an unimpressed look that dissolved into a happy smile. He smiled back, reaching out to brush her bangs out of her eyes, before kissing her gently. She pushed him away with a laugh. "Out, Bird. This kitchen is to small to have this many people in it."

He grinned and backed out. It amused her that he still followed her orders, like he just couldn't help himself.

"Where is your shirt, Bird?" Ivy asked with a raised eyebrow. He smirked as she made a pointed glance at her older sister.

"Probably in the living room from this morning," He remarked casually. "Although…," he peered into the living room, "It seems to have migrated somehow."

"I wonder how that could have happened," Patricia smiled with an amused glint in her eye.

"It might have been when-." He cut off abruptly when Ivy shot a warning look at him. He shrugged and smiled innocently.

"Must I go back to enforcing the rules?" She asked a little to sweetly.

Neither of the women missed the lust that sparked across his brilliant blue eyes. "That might be necessary…"

Ivy pointed towards the living room. "Go put your shirt on or you will be punished later."

He lingered in the doorway for a moment longer before she stepped threateningly towards him. He disappeared out sight in an eye blink. Soon as he was out of eye shot, Patricia picked up a cookbook and used it to fan herself. Ivy chuckled at her sister and went back to chopping vegetables.

/

Dinner was a quiet affair. They all made pleasant, small talk while trying valiantly to ignore the giant elephant in the room (namely Nightwing's identity). The conversation never got awkward, but it was difficult to ignore that one detail that was picking at Patricia's brain. Throughout the meal, the cogs were whirling in her head. She was adding up all the bits and pieces of information Payton had told her over the last several months. Then suddenly everything seemed to coalesce into the whole picture.

"Oh my God!" Patricia suddenly burst out.

Payton and Dick both looked at her with a mix of concern and confusion.

"That day we were watching Celebrity Gossip and you looked like you had seen a ghost!" The older woman blurted. "It was because they had that story about Dick Grayson!"

Payton laughed. "I guess you finally put it all together."

"What story?" Dick asked curiously. There had been a lot of stories circulating about him during that time. He honestly couldn't remember what show or gossip news rag had said about him.

Payton smiled wickedly as her sister turned bright red. "It was about the sudden lack of activity in your promiscuous life. All the gossip sources were completely stumped on why you had stopped sleeping around all of the sudden," Payton explained to him. "I meant to ask you about that by the way. Just why were you sleeping around so much?"

Patricia was like an observer watching a tennis match. Her love of gossip was eating it up being in the middle of such a juicy conversation.

Dick cringed and picked at his napkin. "Well to be totally honest, you really messed with my head."

Payton looked guilty and somewhat ashamed.

"Hey, you didn't know that was gonna happen." Dick said to her gently. "Between the drugs, the pollen, Harley, and being with you, I got a little screwed up. Some of it was a case of Stockholm syndrome. It took me three days to finally start putting clothes on, a week to have Tim take my collar off (I still have it), and almost a month to feel comfortable moving out on the roof tops again."

"You didn't want to take the collar off?" Payton asked faintly.

"No, because I felt like I belonged to you." He leaned forward and caught her eyes. "I wanted to belong to you. I was so lost when I found out you left me. Everything felt backwards and wrong."

"And the sleeping around?" Patricia couldn't help but ask.

They both looked over at her like they had just remembered she was still there. Dick cleared his throat and looked slightly embarrassed. "I'd kinda been turned into a sex addict."

Payton snorted out a laugh and covered her mouth with her hand. Patricia looked stunned and taken aback.

"Between you and Harley, I was getting it several times a day. Then after she was gone I was still getting laid at least once day. I was used to getting it. I needed it. And I needed to be touched. I couldn't go back to living in tactile isolation so easily," Dick explained, blushing a little at telling this stuff to them. "I do blame that part entirely on you. You rarely stopped touching me when we were together."

"I really did mess with your head, didn't I?" Payton sighed. "I'm sorry."

"I wasn't unhappy, Ivy. I could have escaped towards the end if I had wanted to," Dick told her frankly.

"Wow," Patricia said. "I mean I made the connection between you and Nightwing, but hearing you talk about this stuff…I guess it's becoming real to me. You really are Nightwing."

Dick chuckled quietly. "Yeah, I suppose it would be a little hard to wrap your head around."

"No kidding," Patricia smiled. "So if you quit your…escapades, does that mean you got over your addiction?"

"No," Dick replied. "I just realized I was wrapping my whole world around sex and Nightwing. It wasn't healthy. I found a 'steady' to be with until I settled down and started feeling like myself again."

Payton looked displeased. "A 'steady'?"

"Not in the romantic sense at all," he smiled reassuringly. "It was purely physical."

"Who was it?" Payton asked, still clearly jealous.

"The Flash."

There was a moment of utter silence.

"The Flash!" Both women gapped at him.

He shrugged and smiled sheepishly. "It worked out. We parted ways on good terms. I think we can still work together effectively should the need ever arise."

Payton shook her head and smiled ruefully. "Well at least it wasn't another woman."

Dick reached over to snag a piece of garlic bread. "Better than sleeping with Catwoman." He remarked offhandedly. He glanced over with a sly grin to see Payton glaring at him. "Relax, Ivy. I never slept with her. I'm sure if it had been up to her though things would have gone in that direction."

"She tried to seduce you?" Payton looked disgusted.

"Tried. Almost had me, 'til I figured out her whole scheme," He answered.

"Good. She's a common thief. You're far to good for her," Payton said loftily.

Dick chuckled. "And you, Poison Ivy?"

"I, at least, had vision." Payton boosted.

"You had a much better costume too." Dick smiled slyly and gestured suggestively with his hands. "It didn't really leave a whole lot to the imagination."

"Now now, keep it PG. There are young ears here," Patricia laughed, pretending to cover William's ears.

They all ate in silence for a few minutes, perhaps trying to figure out more appropriate dinner conversation.

"I've been wondering, Dick…," Patricia said. She waited until he looked up to ask. "Why do you still call Payton, Ivy?"

Payton quirked up her eyebrow in interest, and waited to hear what his response would be.

"She's not Payton to me. To me, she is either Pamela Isley or Poison Ivy. And I can't call her Pamela without giving her away. Ivy feels natural," he replied easily. "Besides, she calls me Bird."

"Don't you two think someone will figure it out?" Patricia asked worriedly.

"Not here." Payton said softly.

Dick nodded. "But I'll have to be very careful in Gotham."

"So you're not going to tell Bruce when you go back?" Payton asked, a little anxiety slipping into her voice.

"Never. He's after you. He thinks you should be put back in Arkham for kidnapping me," Dick said angrily. "I won't let him do that. And I won't let anyone hurt you or Will." His eyes were fierce.

Patricia shivered. Just for a second she could see the ferocity it took for this young man to be Nightwing. He was every inch a warrior. Then the moment was gone and he was smiling again.

"I think everything will be fine as long as we iron out your cover story." A loud ringing sound made them all flinch. Dick growled in irritation as he fished through his pockets. It's like the man has radar, he thought as he dragged his communicator out. "I gotta take this call." He stood up abruptly, before they could even ask what was happening. He stalked out of the room and down the hall to the bedroom. He pushed the door shut before answering the call.

"Yeah?" Dick answered curtly.

"You were supposed to be back in Gotham an hour ago."

Dick rolled his eyes. "I thought Brian talked to you."

"He told me you decided to stay in Florida for a few extra days…because of some girl." Bruce sounded annoyed, suspicious, and not at all convinced.

"Yeah, I met a girl. You told me to come. You all wanted me to get over my issues. What better way than spending it with a girl." Dick replied a bit snidely.

"Dick-."

"It's not her, if that's what you're worried about," the lie slid so easily off his lips. "What are the odds of that happening? She's gone. I'm over it." Man, so far from it. He was so glad he was not having this conversation face to face. Bruce would sniff out a lie in a heartbeat. At least, he'd have time to get Ivy's cover story and his story figured out before he got back.

Bruce was silent for a long moment. Dick knew he was mulling over his story and the possibilities. "How long are you planning on staying?"

"I'm coming back on Saturday." That'd leave him three more days to do what he needed to. He had a lot of lost time to make up for. It killed him to think he was gonna have to leave her again, especially now that he had a son.

"I don't like it." Bruce was blunt about his opinion.

Dick rolled his eyes. "I'm aware of that."

"Be careful."

"Always." He replied quietly, before hanging up the phone. He sighed heavily as he stuffed the irritating piece of technology back in his pocket. Most of the time it was great to be so advanced with communications and such, but this one, it really sucked. There were a lot of reasons he'd left Bruce and Gotham behind for so long. One of the reasons was Bruce's inability to not control his life. There were several other reasons, but that tendency was the most aggravating. Dick understood why he did it, but he wasn't a child anymore. He did not need to be monitored. Although, in this incidence Bruce would very strongly argue the opposite if he found out what Dick was doing.

He walked back into the dining room and plopped into his chair, still mulling over the dilemmas facing him.

"Bruce?" Ivy asked casually.

Dick gave her a crooked smile. "Who else?"

"What's he want?"

"Me in Gotham." He rubbed a hand down his face. "I'm gonna need to think up something good to throw him off."

"Tell him the truth," Patricia replied, nonchalantly.

Dick looked up in shock.

"Not the whole truth," she chuckled. "Tell him you were looking for Poison Ivy and found out part of her family lived here in Florida. You came to investigate. You also met Payton and things just happened. You could claim it was because she looked so much like Poison Ivy that you couldn't help it."

"Patricia, you are amazing," Dick grinned and hugged the older woman impulsively. "Thank you."

She flushed bright red at such attentions from the handsome man. Payton gave her a look that clearly meant 'don't even think about it.' Patricia patted Dick awkwardly on the back before he pulled away.

"We're definitely going to need to discuss you appearance, Ivy. Bruce is going to dig into this and we need to be as convincing as possible." Dick's mind was already beginning to think of all the things they were going to have to do to make this story work.

"And William?" Ivy asked worriedly.

"The less he knows about Will the better. Is my name on the birth certificate?" Dick asked, half hoping it was and yet dreading it if she had done that.

"No." She answered, a little sadly. "I couldn't risk that."

He covered her hand with his and gave it squeeze. "It's alright. You did the right thing." He looked over at William, who was happily beating his little fists on the high chair top. "I'm sorry things have to be this way. I wish I didn't have to lie and deceive in order for us to be together."

"Stories don't usually end with the hero and the villainess falling in love," Ivy smirked, stroking a hand over his jaw.

Dick smiled. "No, but it make for a much better story." He leaned over and kissed her.

Patricia cleared her throat and stood up. "I'm going to change William's diaper. I think he needs it." She whisked the little boy out of his chair. A moment later, she was gone.

Dick laughed softly as the older woman disappeared down the hall. "I love you," he murmured to Ivy. "I want to be with you."

"We'll make this work," she replied with determination.

He kissed her again, slow and deep.

/

The days slipped by far to fast for Dick and Ivy. It felt like living a fantasy; to perfect and wonderful for it to last. Dick couldn't keep his hands off Ivy, and when they weren't on her, they were holding his son.

His son.

It still hadn't quite sunk in that the beautiful little baby boy was part of his flesh and blood. He wanted desperately to believe it. The resemblance was there, and even some of the mannerisms William displayed were Dick's own. He hated to doubt, but he had to. As much as he loved Ivy, he knew her better than everyone. A person could change, but darkness always lurked in a person's soul. It was hard to resist. So while Ivy had been distracted he had drawn a sample of William's blood and hair. He stashed it away for later when he returned to Gotham. Then he set the worry aside for the rest of his stay.

For these few days, he wanted all of it to perfect. Even if someday everything went drastically wrong, he would always remember these days as good memories.

/

Be a responsible reader and review!

I had a really hard time picking a place to stop with this part. I have so much more story to cover before this is over. I think this may end up being 5 parts instead of 4. This part is already at 31 pages. This story has taken on a life of its own. I can only hope that a few of you are getting some enjoyment out of this story too. Please drop me a line and tell me what you think. Criticism is welcome, but please be nice about it. :P


	4. Part Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A/N: First off, my deepest apologies for the horrendous length of time that lapsed before this update was finally ready to post. It sat around half written for months. My inspiration was just non-existent. I also didn't really know what I wanted to do with the ending. However, thanks to so many enthusiastic reviews and kudos I forced myself to start writing. So thank you to all of you who sent death threats, pleads, and cries of love and joy to my inbox. You all helped me get my groove back. This part is dedicated to you. I hope you all appreciate it! :P It's 27 freaking pages long. This was supposed to be the last part, but there was no way it was all gonna fit without being over 50 pages. That's a little much to read in one sitting. So anyways, enjoy this part. I swear I will have the last part up before the end of August. If it hits the first of September and you have not seen an update, please feel free to send more death threats. Much love to you all!

Part Four

The rest of Dick's visit was taken up by re-working his cover story for meeting Payton Ives so that it would convince Bruce when he returned to Gotham. He also tightened up some of the loose ends in Ivy's cover story. Everything had to be airtight to any snooping person. He fiddled with the date of Payton Ives's miraculous return so that it didn't coincide with Ivy's disappearance. He went over all of it with Ivy so that if she were questioned she would answer everything correctly. It was somewhat paranoid of him, but Bruce had taught him to cover everything. It was always check and double check, make sure the facts were right, and never let anything slip by one's notice. He paid to get Ivy's hair dyed a strawberry blond. She looked beautiful and the color change suited her very well. The most difficult aspect of her physical changes was hunting done someone to create colored contacts. When she put those on, she did look like a different person. He could still see Ivy underneath it all. He hoped that few others would though. Lastly, he took pictures of her and William. He couldn't resist taking a few of him with them as well. Though the last few days together had been busy, Dick had enjoyed every second of it spent together with his new little family. It was a strange concept to realize that these two people were now his family. He still had yet to fully realize he was now a father. He wished he had more time to spend with his son and Ivy. The days had slipped away far too quickly.

Now they were standing outside the boarding gate of his airplane as it got ready to fly him home. He had never felt so reluctant to leave anywhere in his life. He held William until boarding began for his flight. He hugged and kissed the baby boy one last time before handing him over to Ivy. He quickly dug in his pocket to pull out his phone. He pressed the phone into her hands. "This is just for you. I re-programmed it so that only you and I can call each other on it."

Her fingers curled around the tiny communicator. "What about Batman?"

"He won't be able to hack it. I'll get a new one from him when I get back to Gotham. I'll tell him I lost this one." Dick answered easily.

"So I will always have a way to contact you." She smiled, pleased by the idea.

The young man nodded. "Call me anytime. Night or day. I may not always be able to answer. But I promise I will call you back as soon as I can."

"Good. You better remember who is the master in this relationship," she smirked. She brushed a finger down his jaw. "Thank you, my handsome Bird."

"You're welcome." He smiled. "I hope you'll keep me as a pet for a long time to come."

"It would be foolish to give up one so well trained." She teased. She glanced back at the boarding gate. "You should go."

Dick half-heartedly agreed. He gave her one last lingering kiss before pressing another kiss to William's downy haired head. "I'll be back soon. I promise. I love you both." He squeezed her hand before finally stepping back.

"I love you too, Bird. I will be waiting." She waved as he slowly trudged away. She lowered her hand as he disappeared down the landing ramp. Reluctantly, she looked down at her hand and swallowed her at the green hue it had taken on. Dizziness swept over her in a wave making her feel faint. She stumbled over to one of the waiting seats before sinking carefully into it as she shifted William on to her lap. The baby mewled faintly, patting his little hand against her chest as if he were trying to reassure her. She clutched him gently to her before kissing his temple.

"My beautiful boy," she whispered faintly, closing her eyes again the dizziness.

It had been so hard to hide the weakness, dizzy spells, and increasing appearance of green tinting that swept across her skin at odd intervals. She hadn't wanted to alarm Dick. She didn't want to ruin their happiness. Not when she had only just gotten him back. She knew what was happening. She would tell him eventually. Right now, she had time and she wouldn't ruin these precious few moments for anything.

/

At least, Bruce had the courtesy to wait until they were back at the manor before the questioning began. Dick had been waiting for it since he'd been picked up at the airport. While he'd been waiting for the questions to begin, he had gone over the story over and over to make sure he had it just right. The truth with enough little white lies in it. It was going to be a difficult balance, especially with someone like Bruce. Bruce could sniff out a lie from a mile away. Now here in the Manor living room amidst those he considered family, it was going to be even harder to stick to his resolve and to deceive them.

"So…Brian said you met a girl?" Bruce remarked casually. It was anything but a causal question.

"Yes, I did." Dick replied easily, taking care not to betray anything in his facial expressions or movements.

Tim straightened up just a little, eyeing his step father and brother with apprehension. Even Alfred, arched an eyebrow at the sudden tension in the room. Dick was grateful Barbara wasn't there. It would only make this whole thing worse.

"Her name is Payton Ives. She happens to be the cousin of Pamela Isley." Dick said calmly before picking up his drink to sip from it.

"That was why you went down to Florida." Bruce's voice had gone flat and distant. His Batman voice.

Dick set down his glass. "No. Actually, it was just a vacation with my friends. It was a completely accident that I ran into Payton. We were driving through Lakeland and stopped in for breakfast. I just happened to see her walking by. I did think it was Poison Ivy. They looked so similar. I probably scared the hell out of her running up and grabbing her arm the way I did. And I'll admit I was…disappointed it wasn't her." He swallowed and looked down at the glass in his hands. He remembered the well of emotions that had struck him when he'd realized it was truly her. He took a deep shuddering breath. "She told me who she was. I asked if she knew a Pamela Isley. That's when she told me everything. She'd just returned recently to Lakeland and is living with Pamela's sister Patricia. Payton had been abducted as child. She lost her memory of everything. She escaped from her captor and slowly began to remember everything as she wandered across country. When she remembered it all, she headed for Florida. Patricia was happy to have her back."

"That all sounds a little to good to be true." Bruce broke in quietly.

"I know. It seems farfetched. I stayed those extra days as an excuse to find out the truth. I hunted that entire city trying to find a trace of Poison Ivy. There was nothing. Just Patricia and Payton. I talked to both, but neither had seen or heard from her in years. Patricia said that Pamela was ashamed to speak with her. Meeting Payton was just odd coincidence. And yes, I know you don't believe in that," Dick held up his hand to ward off Bruce's impending remark about that subject. "But I didn't go down there looking for Poison Ivy. I certainly didn't find her. I did find Payton though…and she's amazing." That much was completely true. "She's beautiful, kind, and funny. I enjoyed being with her. I wanted to be with her. Maybe it was because she looked like Poison Ivy. Maybe I wanted to have that connection when I realized who she was related too. I missed Poison Ivy so much…" He clenched his hands into fists. "But Payton… I promised I'd go back to visit her. I want," he paused and took a deep breath, "I want to try to be with her. She made me happy while I was there. God knows, I need some happiness back in my life."

He looked up at Alfred, Bruce, and Tim with an earnest look. Bruce seemed unconvinced. Alfred was giving him that kind, sorrowful fatherly expression he had perfected over the years when any of them got hurt. Tim was giving a long, considering look. Dick dug out the photo of Ivy he had taken before he left to use as 'proof'.

"Here's a picture of her." He handed it across to Bruce, who took it and studied it thoroughly.

"She does look very similar to Poison Ivy. How old is she?" Bruce inquired as he handed the picture over to Tim. Alfred peered over the boy's shoulder to get a good look at it as well.

"25." Dick answered promptly. Ivy easily looked younger than her years. She could pull off being in her 20s still.

Bruce tapped his fingers against the arm of his chair. "This all seems to convenient."

"I know…really, I know. It seems ridiculous. I looked up everything I could find about her. It all seems legit. I can't find a hole in her story. The amnesia thing seems unlikely. But Bruce…she's got a kid. And it's hers. I checked all the medical records, blood samples, and DNA results. You can look it up yourself if you want." Dick mentally threw down his last ace in the hole. He had paid someone a lot of money to doctor up all the medical records and information to make it all as real as possible. He'd felt a little dirty afterwards, but it was all worth it to keep Ivy and his son safe.

Even from his step father.

"I'll look into her." Bruce said quietly.

Dick would have been shocked if the man didn't. He knew Bruce was going to search out every possible bit of information he could find. Dick just hoped to God that it would all hold up under his step father's scrutiny.

"You really like this woman?" The older man looked at his step son seriously.

"I really do." Dick confessed sincerely. "A lot."

Bruce took a deep breath before standing up. "Just…give me some time. I'll see you at dinner." He flipped open the clock and pulled the lever. A moment later, he disappeared through the hidden doorway down into the Batcave.

Dick sighed in relief. He looked over at Tim, who shrugged and got up too. Alfred met Dick's gaze for a moment before following Bruce. Dick felt like that had gone about as well as could be expected. He knew none of them were really convinced. They would have to do their own research. He was fine with that. Long as he kept them off the scent of the real truth.

/

Alfred followed Bruce down the steps into the depths of the Batcave. The super computer loomed out of the darkness like a beacon of truth. Bruce headed towards it with a determined stride.

"I don't like any of this, Alfred," Bruce growled, as he sank into the chair in front of the massive bank of computer screens. He quickly typed in Payton Ives' name into his search engine. In a second, the super computer was pulling up information from all around the country. Hit after hit scrolled across the screen in a rapid fire of images and information.

"You don't like it because his happiness makes you suspicious." Alfred pointed out calmly.

"It's to convenient, Alfred," Bruce steepled his fingers in front of him and frowned. He narrowed his eyes at the picture of Payton Ives' driver's license. He quickly scanned over the information in front of him. Newspaper articles about the girl's disappearance. There was a picture of her taken with her cousins Pamela and Patricia Isley many years ago when they were all still young girls. A startling resemblance between all three girls was apparent even at such a young age. They could have been triplets. There was no information on Payton until her sudden reappearance.

"Do you suppose it really could be her?" the butler asked quietly.

Bruce studied the pictures in front of him. The similarities were there, but the evidence was not absolute. "It's highly possible."

"It is also possible that the woman really is just Payton Ives. People do re-appear again. It happens very rarely, but it is not impossible." Alfred remarked.

"Maybe I am just reading to much into this," Bruce sighed heavily. "I just want him to be happy, Alfred. This past year has been hell for him. I know it has. I am not as ignorant of things as he would have me believe."

Alfred gave the younger man a shrewd look. "He has coped as well as could have been expected."

Bruce scowled. He kept feeling like he should have done more for Dick. He just didn't know how to handle the kind of emotional upheaval the younger man had gone through. The only time he'd ever come so close to a similar encounter was when he'd been kidnapped and forced to work for Boss Biggis (epi: 8). He hadn't known who he was so he'd felt lost. Somehow, he had still freed himself and eventually got his memory back. Dick's situation had been worse. Captured, drugged, mentally abused, and sexually tormented; Dick had begun to lose his sense of self. That was totally different than merely forgetting it temporarily. Bruce felt like he should have been a better help in Dick's recovery of self- independence. If he was totally honest with himself, Bruce had been afraid. To him, it felt like something irreparable had been broken inside of Dick.

"I don't like the situation whether she is Poison Ivy or not," Bruce finally remarked. "Dick's willingness to latch onto this woman so quickly is disturbing."

"I do agree," Alfred stated.

Bruce frowned before going back to researching. Behind him, Alfred silently ascended the stairs. The butler knew there was no point staying now that Bruce's attention was completely occupied. He would learn what Bruce had found later. In the meantime, he had a household to run.

/

One of the perks of being a vigilante was Nightwing had a lot of good contacts. He had friends all around the world. However, for this particular job he only needed to go as far as the Gotham Central Hospital. He waited in the office of one Dr. Waters with the lights off and lounging in the guest chair like he owned the place. He had been invited to drop by any time. He barely flinched against the sudden burst of light when the door opened and the doctor flicked the light switch on the wall.

"Jesus!" Dr. Waters gasped, gripping the door frame when he saw the familiar dark figure sitting in the guest chair in front of his desk. "Really, Nightwing, there are better ways to get in touch with me."

"None of them are quite as fun. The look on your face…every time." Nightwing grinned.

"Oh you little bastard. You are lucky I like you at all. One of these days you will give me a heart attack," the doctor grumbled as shut the door. He tossed his brief case on his desk before sinking into his worn leather chair. "I assume this isn't a social visit."

The vigilante stretched his legs out a little further. "It never is."

"To true. Coffee?" Dr. Waters asked, as he spun his chair around to pour a mug for himself from the rickety table behind him.

"No thank you."

The doctor settled back, sipped from his coffee, and eyed his friend. "What can help you with?"

"I need a blood test run. Specifically the DNA examined, in comparison, to my own." Nightwing sighed. He reached into his utility belt to take out the small vial of his son's blood. He had kept it ensconced on his person since he left Florida. He was to paranoid to leave it anywhere. It was far to dangerous to leave lying about. Wrongs hands and all…

"Why not take it to Batman? I know he has the tech." Dr. Waters remarked off handedly.

The vigilante sighed. "Don't you think I would have if I could? This is not something I want him to see."

The doctor abruptly sat up and leaned across the desk. "Hiding things, are we?"

Nightwing curled his fingers around the vial in his hands. "Yes."

"Ah." Dr. Waters acknowledged. "Well then, hand it over. I'll need a sample of your blood too."

The vigilante quickly produced another vial before passing them both over. The doctor took them carefully. "How long will this take?" Nightwing asked quietly.

"A few days. I'll give you a call." Dr. Waters answered.

"Not a word to anyone." The vigilante warned.

"Not one. You know you can trust me." The doctor smiled gently. He'd known the vigilante when he was Robin. The boy had shattered his leg in a fight. Dr. Leslie Thompkins had referred Robin and Batman to Dr. Waters. Batman had not endeared himself to Dr. Waters at all. That particular vigilante had been snappish and purposefully intimidating. Not that it had bothered the doctor much. He dealt with more shit than most in this hospital. Very little bothered or frightened him anymore. Robin had been invited to stop by any time he needed help. Batman had been politely asked to leave and return when his attitude improved.

Nightwing's shoulders sagged in relief. "I know. Thank you. There are very few others I would trust with this."

Dr. Waters was tempted to press his friend for more information, but he left it alone. He was certain he some of his curiosity would be alleviated when he reviewed the test results.

/

A week passed by slowly for Nightwing. He waited impatiently for a call from Dr. Waters. In the meantime, he fell back into his same routine with ease. The only difference was that he called Ivy every night before he started his rounds for the evening. It was a little strange listening to her voice over the phone. He never really had before this. It also elicited a thrill to hear her and know that no one else truly knew who he was talking too. She seemed to be happy. Just hearing her voice made him happy. After a year of silence and no contact, he was starved for any kind of connection with her. He also missed William desperately. Hearing his soft, cooing voice over the phone was not nearing enough. He ached to hold his son again. The distance between them all was painful.

The phone call from Dr. Waters finally came while Nightwing was out patrolling the east side of the city. Relief flooded him at the possibility of finally receiving facts and easing some of his worry. He made it over to the hospital in near record setting speeds on his motorcycle. Barely half an hour had passed since he received the call and he was climbing through the window into Dr. Waters office.

"Well, I can certainly understand now why you did not want Batman to see this." Dr. Waters remarked as Nightwing sat down. "I'm not sure how he would feel about you having a son."

The young man flinched before looking down at his hands. "You are certain about that?"

"Is that what this was about? You weren't certain he was yours?" The doctor leaned forward, eyebrows raised in disbelief.

"Part of it." Nightwing admitted.

"Without a doubt, this DNA has half of your signature. The other half…now the other half is quite special." Dr. Waters told the vigilante. "I have never seen anything quite like it. It is human, definitely, but altered. Was the mother a meta-human, if I might ask?"

The young man chewed his lip. "I don't know if meta-human is the right term for her."

"Well whatever she might be, her DNA signature is fascinating. There was something strange that threw me off though." The doctor said, reaching for the sheaf of print outs from the results.

"What's that?" Nightwing looked alarmed. Please don't let it be my son, he thought desperately. Fear gripped him at the possibility that something could be wrong with his son. To his chagrin and regret, flash backs of the two boys Ivy had created during her fake marriage with the professor were startling vivid.

Dr. Waters stared down at the papers for a moment. He wasn't even aware of his friend's distress. "Well it was quite difficult to discern whose blood was whose. If the vials and test tubes hadn't been labeled it could have gotten very confusing."

The vigilante frowned in bafflement. "Why?"

"Her DNA signature has also attached itself to yours. In fact, your blood and your son's is nearly identical. Since the last time I tested your blood there has been a significant change. Your white blood cell count is extremely high. As is the white blood cell count in your son. Now it is normal for infants to have high WBC for the first two weeks of life or so. His blood suggests that he is older than that though. So, this is highly unusual. Normally, high WBC means there is an infection or some such. Everything else suggests that you are both quite healthy. The DNA in both vials has her distinct signature. This suggests that yours has somehow been altered by hers. While in your son it is merely a result of both DNA types coming together to form a child." Dr. Waters tried to explain as simply as possible.

Nightwing sat back in stunned disbelief. "My DNA's been altered?"

"It has indeed. I do not see any reason to panic though. It doesn't seem to have harmed you. In fact, it appears to have strengthened your DNA. I would be able to tell you more though if you gave me a little information about the mother." The doctor pressed his friend gently.

The vigilante covered his face with his hands and forced himself to take long, measured breaths. "She…has very high immunities." Was all he managed to get out before the information really sank in. "Oh shit. How could this happen to me?"

"I don't know." Dr. Waters replied unhelpfully. "There are a few guesses. Prolonged contact of her DNA to yours if hers is powerful enough. Somewhat like cancer. It just grew and attached itself to yours. Symbiotic, if you will."

"Oh God." Nightwing felt sick. He didn't know if he was angry or panicked. All that time together had changed him. She shouldn't have even been able to have children! But maybe that's why she got pregnant. His DNA did change! It became more like hers so that maybe her body accepted him, and was able to create William. His eyes widened at the implications. Did that mean he was immune to poisons and toxins now? Was William immune?

"Nightwing." Dr. Waters reached out to grip his friend's arm. "You are alright. There is nothing wrong with you."

The vigilante let his hands drop and allowed the reassurances to sooth his whirling emotions. He needed time to sort this all out in his head. There was so much to think about now. "Can I have the results please?"

"Of course." Dr. Waters handed over a CD with all the information loaded onto it along with the print outs. "I'll destroy the rest of this, shall I?"

"Yes, please," Nightwing nodded.

The doctor tried to smile reassuringly. "We can keep track of this if you're worried. Maybe a month or so from now we can test you again. Just to be sure."

"Ok." The vigilante agreed as he tucked the papers and CD away.

"Take care of yourself." Dr. Waters shook the young man's hand.

"Thank you." Nightwing gripped his hand tightly. "I appreciate this."

"I know. I'm always around for this kind of thing of you need me. Now go on." Dr. Waters smiled and gestured towards the window of his office.

Nightwing slipped out the window and drifted away on the midnight breeze. All thoughts of night patrol were forgotten. He turned in the direction of the warehouse district and home. He needed to be in the safety of his loft to work all this out. He certainly didn't want any company tonight. Hopefully, Robin wouldn't come around to bother him. He just really needed to be alone.

/

Dick sat on the roof of his warehouse loft. His mask and top of his outfit were tossed aside so that if any police helicopter went overhead they would not catch a vigilante, only a lone man looking forlornly out at the Gotham skyline. He rolled backwards until he lay flat before staring up at the night sky. It glowed orange from the many city lights reflecting off the clouds. No stars were visible tonight. Not even the moon shone through. A wash of feelings left him adrift in a sea of uncertain. Fear, anger, confusion, and disbelief cycled through him in rapid succession. He reached up to cover his face with his hands before taking a deep, shuddering breath.

He had known there were risks in being with Poison Ivy. He had thought that he was aware of what it was he was getting into with her. Not once had this possibility of being altered ever crosses his mind. Far as Batman or anyone from Arkham knew, Ivy could not poison with touch. But he hadn't just been in touch with her. Sex was a messy, intimate dance of bodies. Had she altered him from night one or had he slowly changed the longer he was exposed.

"What difference does it fucking make?" He growled to himself.

He was changed no matter how it happened. His son was also affected. That much had been somewhat expected. He was happy to know that he may not ever have to worry about his son becoming ill, poisoned, or diseased thanks to extremely high immunities. William had been conceived and born with that unique DNA. Dick had been altered. He trusted Dr. Waters opinion that this change was not detrimental. It was just the concept that he was different. He understood now why so many of the villians he fought had gone mad after undergoing major alterations of body. He was frightening to know that he was no longer the same. Thank God, it was only on the inside.

He lifted his hands up to stare at them. He didn't feel any different. Yet, the more he thought about it, he realized he had not been sick in over a year. Not even a minor cold. He curled his fingers into his palms and clenched his fists. He let his arms fall out to his sides. A calm acceptance was beginning to sweep through him. He had been healthy for over a year: proof that he was perfectly fine. He had not suddenly become a meta-human or mutant of any kind. He was fine.

"I'm fine." He reassured himself aloud. Just hearing it made relief ripple through him.

But now, what to do about it…

Should he tell Ivy or not? He didn't want her to feel responsible for what happened. She never would have done this to him on purpose. Of this, he was utterly certain. He doubted she even knew that she could do this to someone. He didn't want to cause a rift between them so soon after finding each other again. Yet, she deserved to know the truth. A relationship, especially a romantic one, could not be built one lies. Not if it was going to last. This was to big to hide from her. He had to tell her.

He laid out on the roof until the dawn began to pick up over the horizon. He reached into his utility built to dig out the communicator that connected only to hers. Her morning usually started by now. He dialed her communicator before raising it to his ear. He listened to it ring until on the final one her tired voice answered.

"Good morning, Bird. Shouldn't you be going to sleep?" She said softly. There was the rustle of bed sheets in the background.

"Good morning, Ivy. I can't sleep yet." He answered honestly.

"What's the matter?" She instantly sounded alert and anxious.

He was silent for a moment. "Can you poison or effect someone by touch?"

"No," she replied. "I have never been able to do that."

"Do you think you could if it was more than just touching?"

She was quiet. "I have used my blood to poison someone…"

He closed his eyes and took a shuddering breath.

"Why are you asking me these questions, Bird? What's happened?" She sounded scared.

"I'm different."

"What? Different how?"

He swallowed. "I had my blood tested. My DNA has been changed. It has half of your signature attached to it, Ivy."

He heard her suck in a sharp breath. "Are you…?"

"I'm fine, love. Just…freaked out." That was a good way to put it. "My friend who tested me said I was better than fine."

"I had…suspected." Hundreds of miles away, she was looking down at the pale green that was spreading up her wrist. She trembled and clenched her fingers closed over her palm.

"You what?" He sat up, a spike of fear lancing through his chest.

"I had suspected something like this, but I was afraid to say something about it. I didn't want to frighten you away after finding you again." She whispered. Dick heard William coo softly in the background.

"What exactly did you think?" Dick suppressed the automatic reaction of anger he felt at hearing this confession.

She shushed William gently before answering Dick. "A plant cannot germinate without the proper pollen. There was no way that any human could impregnate me, because my body would instantly attack and destroy any outside influence. I have never been in prolonged contact with anyone in so intimate a way as I have been with you. The only conclusion I could come to in how I was able to become pregnant is that my body accepted yours or yours accepted mine."

Dick pulled his knees up and dropped his head onto them. "I don't know how to feel about this."

"I didn't know my body would do that to you. I thought it was me who had changed," she said, trying to keep the fear and worry out of her voice. She sat down on her couch as a dizzy spell swept over her. "If I had known …"

"You still would have captured me." He remarked.

She sighed. "Yes. I wanted you to badly. Nothing would have deterred me."

"I need a little time to be ok with this." He said truthfully.

"I'm sorry, my Bird," she whispered sadly.

"You don't need to apologize. Neither of us knew this would happen." He soothed gently. "I'm not angry at you."

"Thank you." There was a moment of silence on her end. "I have to get ready for work. Get some sleep. Please call me later."

"I love you, Ivy." He answered, and he meant it. He hoped she could heard it in his voice.

She sounded relieved. "I love you, Bird. Good night. Sleep sweet."

"Good morning. Have a good day." He replied before breaking the connection and turning off the communicator.

He pushed himself up, gathered up his mask and top, before heading towards the door for the stairwell down from the roof. He felt relieved and calmer now that he had spoken to her. Some of his fears had been assuaged enough for him to at least get some sleep. The rest of it would come with acceptance over time. There was nothing that could be done to change what had happened or alter his DNA back to its original state. Eventually, he would be ok with this. But for now, he just needed to sleep and forget about it for a little while.

/

Dick was awakened late in the afternoon by the buzz of his intercom. He rolled over to the bedside table and hit the button to answer whoever was calling at his door.

"Hello," he grumbled.

"Are you gonna let me in?" Tim's voice echoed through the room.

Dick dropped his head onto his pillow. "Why are you here?"

"I was worried about you." Tim's tinny voice replied.

"I'm fine."

"Then why weren't you out on patrol last night?"

Dick sighed heavily. "You're like my personal stalker."

"It's called being your brother!" Tim snapped angrily.

Dick groaned before hitting the button that unlocked the main warehouse door. "Put on some coffee when you get up here." He smacked off the intercom before letting his arm fall limply to hang off the side of the mattress. He dozed off until he heard his bedroom door kicked open. He cracked his eyes open when a mug of coffee was set on the table only a few inches from his nose.

"There you go, your majesty," Tim said sarcastically before shoving a pile of laundry off a chair and dropping onto it.

"Thank you." Dick pushed himself up and turned to sit against the head board.

"So where were you last night?" the boy interrogated his step brother.

Dick grabbed his mug and took a gulp of coffee. "Didn't feel up to it."

Tim did not look the least bit convinced. "I've been thinking…," he tapped his fingers against the arm of the chair. "You found her, didn't you?" Tim asked quietly.

Dick looked up sharply. "What makes you say that?"

"You haven't looked this happy in a long time. You meet some random girl that just happens to look like Her. Suddenly you're all rainbows and sunshine. I don't buy it. You've moped after her for so long that the only thing that could make you happy is finding her." Tim crossed his arms over his chest and gave his adoptive brother a 'prove me wrong' look. "And don't try to deny it. I was with you the most after…everything. You cried on me, man."

Dick flinched at the undignified reminder. "Damn, you are a smart brat."

Tim smirked. "So you did find her."

"I did," Dick admitted. To hell with it. He needed someone on his side. He knew he couldn't hide this by himself forever. "But Bruce can't know."

"I get that." Tim nodded. "But he's already suspicious."

"My cover story is as hole proof as I can make it." Dick sighed before gulping down more coffee.

There was silence for a few minutes as Tim studied his step brother. "Dick, not to be…"

"Your normal, pushy self?"

Tim rolled his eyes. "Yeah, that. Is it really safe to be back with her? I mean this is Poison Ivy."

"Was. She's changed and I believe her. I don't foresee any future relapses. She has good people in her life now to help her—not just me." Dick answered without looking up. His fingers flexed around his coffee mug. It wasn't her fault that he had been changed. Sleep had calmed him and dulled his fear. He loved her despite everything. Even this recent development didn't change his feelings.

"I don't want this to come back and bite you in the ass." Tim scowled.

Dick smiled as he glanced back over his shoulder at the boy. "I appreciate that. I'll keep an eye on her." Things had already gone to far to turn back now.

"I'll help you keep Bruce off your back, but if I think she's hurting you…"

"I get it, Tim, Thanks." Dick looked over at his little brother. "Really…thanks."

Tim nodded, before daring to mention one more thing. "There's something else you're not telling us."

Dick rolled his eyes. "I think I have the right not to tell you every detail of my personal life."

Tim raised his hands in surrender. "Fine. Fine. Just be careful."

"That's rich coming from you." Dick smirked. "But I will be careful." He'd do anything to protect his little family in Florida.

"Right. Well, I'm heading home then. See yah later, Dick." Tim stood up. "You're coming out on patrol tonight, right?"

"Yeah, I'll be out. Meet me at First Gotham Bank. We'll check out the west side. I've heard rumors of a drug ring that might be fun to bust up."

"See you then." Tim left the bedroom.

"Later!" Dick called after him.

/

It was a rare afternoon with Dick, Barbara, and Tim all gathered in the living room of the Wayne Manor, watching a movie. Moments like these were the times when Dick felt like he came closest to having a true, whole family. With bowls of popcorn being passed between them, shared laughter at the jokes on screen, and moments of earned laziness, Dick felt at peace. He felt the calmest he'd been in the last three weeks. He was no longer freaking out over any changes that had happened to him. There was nothing he could do about it now. He was changed, and that was that. He had accepted it with as much grace as he could manage. Things had smoothed over once more between he and Ivy. There was no resentment or anger on Dick's part at all. He was just happy to speak with her every chance he got and listen to his son's happy coos and babbles over the phone. Right in this moment, he was content. He just wished he could have his entire family altogether (Bruce, Tim, Barbara, Alfred, Ivy, and William all in one place). Maybe that was wishful thinking. He could only hope it would happen someday.

Dick's phone buzzed in his pocket. He knew who it was without a shadow of doubt. Without realizing it, a big dopey smile crossed his face. He jumped up from the couch, making a quick excuse, and ducking out the nearest door.

"I don't like this." Barbara frowned, watching Dick answer his phone and hurry outside for some privacy to chat to his girlfriend in peace.

"He's happy." Tim pointed out from his position on the couch.

"He's to serious about this woman. He's only know her for a month." Barbara said seriously. "It makes me wonder if he's only with her because she looks like Pamela Isley too."

Tim shrugged. "It could be. I don't think it's our business."

Barbara scrutinized him closely. "You know something."

"Maybe," Tim admitted. "But then again, maybe not. Maybe I'm just happy he's not sleeping around anymore and is beginning to act normal…for him anyways."

"You're not gonna tell me even if you do know." She grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Nope." Tim replied with a grin before turning up the TV.

Outside, Dick flipped his phone open and answered. "It's a little early to be calling." He said when the call picked up.

"Hello to you too, my Bird," she purred into his ear. That tone alone was enough to send shivers of desire down south in his pants. "I'm on lunch break. I wanted to hear your voice."

"I've missed you," he heard himself admitting.

He could almost hear her smirking. "I should hope so. I have missed you too."

"How are you? How's Will?" Dick asked, looking out across the garden from the back deck. One of these days, he hoped he could show the garden to Ivy. He knew she'd like it. It was his favorite spot on the Wayne Family property.

"I'm doing very well. I'm quite happy to spend my time cultivating roses for a wedding reception this weekend. I was asked personally to arrange them in the church and at the reception." She sounded so proud of her work. It made Dick happy that she seemed so calm and content in her new life. She was so different then the woman she used to be. "Will is getting bigger every day. He's trying to learn to crawl now."

Dick swallowed hard at the mention of his son. "I wish I could be there to see it. I miss him."

"About that…" Ivy said casually.

"What?" Dick asked.

"I wanted to invite you to Patrick's birthday party next Saturday. That is if you aren't busy."

Dick smiled. "I will be there." He didn't care if there was anything else going on next weekend. He'd cancel everything just to be there.

"Really?" She sounded surprised.

"I promise. I want to see you and William. I should get to know the rest of your family too." He answered cheerfully.

"Yes, you should. I'll let Pat know you're coming. I'm glad you'll come." She sounded so happy and relieved. "I have to go." She sounded regretful.

"Alright. I'm glad you called." He gripped the phone a little tighter like it would stop her from hanging up. "I love you."

There was a soft intake of breath. She still had trouble believing he truly did love her. He knew she felt like she didn't deserve it. He'd say it however many times it took for her to accept it completely. "I love you, my Bird. Good bye."

"Bye." He slowly lowered the phone from his ear before ending the call. He shoved the little communicator back into his pocket. He leaned against the deck rail, staring out at the blooming roses, and wishing with all his heart he was in Florida. Next weekend couldn't come fast enough.

/

The week seemed to drag past. Dick was filled with impatient, anxious energy that he took out on the criminals of Gotham. His alter ego hit the headlines more times in that week than Dick ever did on his sexcapade rampage. Even the papers were beginning to wonder what the hell was up with Nightwing's sudden overly enthusiastic war on crime. Robin didn't argue. He just did his best to keep up. For once, the two of them cleaned up town before Batman could even step into help; which was a good thing, because Batman was off doing official Justice League business.

Friday morning found Dick packed and ready to go, bouncing on his toes, as he waited eagerly for Alfred to pick him up to drive him to the airport. He flung himself into the backseat almost before the Mercedes drew to a complete stop when it arrived. Tim shook his head at his step brother's over excited behavior.

"I hope you're calmer when you come back. You're like a hyper active 4 year old," Tim grumbled.

"One day Tim you'll understand." Dick grinned as he reached over to ruffle his little brother's hair.

Tim smacked his hand away. "If love makes people act this ridiculous, I hope I never do."

The rest of the drive was spent playful bantering back and forth until Alfred was sighing in exasperation.

"Have a safe trip, Master Dick," Alfred said, relieved to be getting rid of the bundle of energy that was masquerading as Dick Grayson. He barely even startled when Dick pulled him into a brief hug.

"Thanks, Alfred," the younger man grinned. He gave Tim a sharp, painful side hug that made Tim flinch. "Be good, Timmy."

"Stop calling me Timmy!" The boy snapped, shoving his step brother away from. "Go already! And you better let us know when you get there!"

"I will," Dick waved as he hurried into the terminal.

"Good riddance," Tim sighed, rubbing at his aching shoulder. "I hope he gets laid soon as he gets there before he combusts."

"Master Timothy!" Alfred scolded.

Tim's shoulders immediately raised up to his ears in defense.

"I sincerely hope you are right." Alfred agreed after a moment.

Tim's eyes went wide and his shoulders dropped in shock before he started to laugh. "See! I knew I wasn't the only one who was getting sick of him!"

"Come, Master Timothy. I believe some ice cream is in order to celebrate surviving the last week." Alfred returned to the car and opened the door for his young charge.

"I think we deserve an entire ice cream cake for having to deal with that!"

Alfred smiled. "Indeed."

/

The plane couldn't seem to go fast enough to Dick. The hours dragged by until his final destination finally came into view. He bounced his heels as he waited for the plane to land. He drummed his fingers against his thighs as the plane taxied in to park. He knew he was being incredibly aggravating to the people sitting around him. He honestly didn't care. Excitement coursed through him as the doors finally opened and passengers could begin to disembark. He practically ran down the boarding ramp. He burst out of the walkway and scanned through the throng of people until he caught sight of Ivy's strawberry blond hair. His heart immediately tripped into overtime.

He hurried towards her, darting through the crowd until he was finally standing in front of her. For a moment, they simply stood gazing at each other. He thought she looked beautiful in her simple ivory skirt and mint green blouse. It was once again amazed him at how much of a lady she appeared to be. She looked so proper and moral. He wanted to rip her clothes right off.

"Hello, Bird," she smiled and reached for him.

He swept her up against him without another moment of hesitation. He didn't give a shit about the hundreds of people around them. All he cared about was the joy that seemed to be bursting in his chest at finally having her back in his arms. She pulled him down into a deep kiss, and the world seemed to fade out for a few seconds.

"Hello, Ivy," he whispered against her lips when they parted. He glanced around briefly. "Where's William?"

"He's with Pat for the day. We'll see him at dinner time." She dragged him into another searing kiss. "I wanted you all to myself," she whispered breathlessly into his ear. Heat instantly surged through him like a firestorm. "Let's get out of here." He wasn't about to argue that sentiment.

The drive back to her apartment blurred by in lingering touches on thighs and arms, and stolen kisses at red lights. They held hands up the sidewalk to the apartment building. They practically ran down the hallway to her door. She fumbled the keys for a moment as she hurried to unlock the door. She shoved the door open when the bolt finally slid back and dragged him inside.

The door was barely shut and latched before he was hoisting her up against it. She made an aborted noise of surprise that cut off into a moan as he shoved his hands up under her skirt. All he could think was thank God she decided to wear a skirt. Easy access had never been more appreciated than in that moment. His immediate goal was to touch every bare inch of skin he could reach. She worked just as single mindedly at her own goal of removing his shirt. He let go for half a second to yank it off and toss it to the side without her even sliding an inch down the door. Then his hands were sliding back up her wonderful shapely thighs, under her skirt and stopping at the barrier of soft cloth that barred his access. She growled irritably when he started to yank on it. He took the hint and helped her shimmy out of her panties.

Soon as the scrap of fabric had been thrown aside his fingers delved between her thighs. She keened, soft and breathy, as one finger rubbed across the entire length of her womanhood. He was amazed at how soaking wet she was for him already. He'd barely even touched her! His cock twitched hard at the thought of how eager she was to have him. It seemed she had missed him just as desperately as he had missed her. They both reached for the fly of his pants at the same time. Somehow, his pants were finally undone and pushed down his thighs. The sound of utter want that purred from her throat at the sight of his cock made his blood surge in his veins. It had been way to long since they'd been intimate. Neither of them could wait another moment.

He groaned as her legs wrapped around his waist to snug his cock against her sex in open invitation. He could not believe the way she way she was acting—so desperate and needy that she was willing to let him take her right here against the door without a care. She had never been quite this wild before. Only a year ago, he would have never been able to manhandle her in such a way.

"Please," she whimpered. "Please please!"

He nearly came just from that. She had never begged like that before and he couldn't take it. He didn't hesitate another moment. He wrapped one fist around his cock and the other hand held her hips in place. Then he was pressing his cock slowly inside her, slipping into her in teasing increments. He closed his eyes as his body already began to shake. Fuck, she was so tight and wet. The slick heat of her beckoned him in and obliterated any rational thought left in him. It took everything he had not to slam the rest of the way inside her.

She tilted her head back against the door as he pushed inside her. Her mouth fell open on a choked moan. Oh God, he was incredible. Her body stretched and ached to nearly overwhelming levels. The sensation of him slowly sliding into her nearly had her coming immediately. They both stilled as he finally settled to the hilt inside her. She almost jumped when the hand on her hip let go to reach up and yank the front of her blouse open. Her breasts spilled out into the cool air, nipples instantly tightening into hard peaks. He reached down to grab both of her ass cheeks, spreading her wider, before slowly sliding out and pushing back in a little rougher. He leaned down to drag his tongue across her nipple before suckling it gently.

She whimpered and writhed against him. He barely had to move his cock inside her to make her pleasure ramp up higher. Each slow glide in and out was sending her into near ecstasy. After only the third stroke she was coming with a broken yelp. Her heels dug into his buttocks as he stopped moving in surprise. Had she really just come so quickly? He had a brief moment to wonder just how quickly she had found release when she bucked against him.

"Move!" She snarled, shoving her hips down onto him.

He didn't need to be told twice. His control snapped at the thought that Ivy had just gotten off almost completely from being penetrated. He gripped her ass and began to rock into her in rough, fast, and needy thrusts. Her cries of lust and appreciation were sending shivers skating down his spin. Her fingernails dug into his shoulders before scraping down his arms. His hips snapped forward hard as she clawed down his biceps. The pleasure she giving him was mind shattering. She was being so honest, lustful, and wanting of him. She truly was enjoying herself too. All of it combined to send him into a near frenzy of lust.

Her hips writhed against him as he plunged in and out of her with almost no rhythm. He was like a mindless beast, rutting with only the thought of release in his mind. Her breasts rubbed across his chest making him shudder. Fuck, she was so soft everywhere. Her ass was the perfect fit for the palms of his hands. Her thighs were clamped about his hips, giving her leverage to ride down onto him as he fucked up.

It was like a battle. They scrambled, growled, panted, and scratched across bare skin. She cried out again, moments later, and the clamp of her walls around him was to much. She was gorgeous with her head thrown back and mouth falling open in udder abandon as her climax shook her. He drove into her mindlessly as he felt the inferno of orgasm building hot and heavy in his gut. She dug her ankles into his ass again, refusing to let him slow down to make it last longer. She twisted her hips in his lap while squeezing her walls tight around him. His orgasm tore through him so fast and fierce that the world seemed to fade around the edges for a few seconds.

She moaned happily as they slipped down the door a little.

He barely had the strength and the presence of mind to slip out of her before stumbling towards the couch. They fell in a tangled, tired heap across the cushions. Dick reached up to grab for the throw blanket, but she pushed his hand aside.

"Don't bother," Ivy smirked. "I'm not even close to done with you yet."

Dick groaned and his cock throbbed with interest as she straddled his hips.

"We have all day to ourselves," she smiled wickedly as she stroked her hands down his chest and over his twitching abs. "I intend to use every second of it for pleasure."

"Ivy," he moaned breathlessly as she rubbed her womanhood across his quickly hardening cock. "Ah, fuck, I missed you."

She kissed him hard. "I missed you…badly. I wanted this," she cupped his now full reawakened cock in her palms. She let go of him to place her hands on his chest before raising her hips to position herself over his pulsing length. She sank slowly down on to him. Dick seemed to lose sense of all time and place after that. There was nothing but her and he never wanted it to end. His hands found her hips then the intimate dance of pleasure began all over again.

The afternoon slipped away, lost in a haze of slickened skin, desperate kisses, and time stealing ecstasy.

/

They laid together on her bed, having finally migrated into her bedroom, after the second round on the couch. A brief nap had been required after that much strenuous activity. Now they were lying on their sides with Ivy facing towards the window with Dick curled against her back. Dick's palm caressed over the smooth skin of Ivy's belly, watching her as she dozed peacefully. The golden glow of the sunset drifted in between the cracks in the blinds. Sleepily, she stretched out her arm towards the light. She sighed in contentment as the warmth seemed to radiate through her skin and recharge her. Sometimes she felt to much like a plant. When she had been completely lost to madness she had been certain that she was Mother Nature or perhaps a part of the Earth come to life. All of that had been impossible. Yet, now that she had broken free, it seemed that her past was determined to catch up to her. Nature (or Karma, or a higher power, whatever one chose to believe) did not allow those who do wrong to go unpunished.

Dick dragged his palm up her waist, over the edge of her breast, to her shoulder, and down the length of her arm to entwine his fingers with hers. She seemed melancholy all of the sudden. He was about to ask what was wrong when something strange on her arm caught his eye. Slowly, he rotated her wrist over. He sat up with a jerk and leaned over her to get a better look at the green color that seemed to be running up through the veins of her wrist. It radiated out from her veins to tinge the rest of the skin near by a light shade of jade. He glanced up at her face to see her staring at the sunlight drifting in through the window.

"Ivy," he squeezed her wrist to break her out of her reverie. "What is this?"

She looked down at her wrist before pulling it gently out of his grip and tucking it against her side. "A new adaption." She answered briefly. It was the truth, but not all of it.

"What does that mean?" He pressed with a hint of worry and fear in his voice.

"I'm not sure yet. It started after I had William." She was as honest as she could be.

He frowned. "Does it hurt?"

"No. Not at all." That much was entirely true. "I believe my body might be trying to recover. It might be struggling to do so. That's all."

"That's all! Ivy, this could be serious," Dick leaned over her and cupped her cheek.

She looked up at his anxious expression. This is not how she wanted the rest of their afternoon to end. She should have been more careful. "It's not serious. My body changes whenever it goes through something drastic." That was also very true. This change, however, was entirely different. "I'm just fine. My cells just have to readjust. Just like when plants lose their leaves or grass blades are cut. My body needs time to recover. I'm fine, Bird." She smiled in a placating manner.

He did not look convinced.

"Stop worrying, Bird. I haven't seen you in a month. There are better things to do than be worried about my green arm." She smirked as she rolled onto her back. She dragged his face down to hers to place a kiss against his lips. "If it were something worse, I would tell you." She lied smoothly.

"You're sure it's not worse than you're letting on," Dick persisted.

"Yes, I promise." She smiled. "Now stop frowning and make love to me."

A smile finally graced his lips in return. "If you insist."

"Oh I do. I really do." She let her legs fall open as he crawled on top of her.

He kissed her sweetly before making love to her in the glow of the golden sunset.

/

They could have easily spent the rest of the evening in bed together. It was tempting to try. However, Dick missed his son. As much as he truly loved Ivy, he wanted to hold William in his arms again. The idea that he had his own little family now was still so new and thrilling. They showered quickly, dressed, and made it over to Patricia's house only a few minutes later than Ivy promised they would be. Only a few minutes late could be considered a major accomplishment with how much they had rushed to get out the door on time.

Patricia met them at the front door, and handed William over to Dick before he even opened his mouth. The two women thought their hearts might melt at how quickly the younger man's expression transformed into one of awe and unconcealed love for the little boy in his hands. Dick tucked William against his shoulder and barely put him down for nearly two hours.

"Did you need the whole day to sort him out again, Pay?" Pat winked at her sister.

Dick's cheeks flamed bright red.

"Of course. I could have used the rest of the evening. But I made good use of the time I had," Ivy smirked, tucking her hand into the crock of Dick's arm.

He looked up at the ceiling as his cheeks turned even more red. The two women just laughed at the look of utter discomfort on his face. Patricia teased him a little more as she ushered them further into the house. Dick was introduced to Patrick and Paige, who met him with a kind of unrestrained enthusiasm that he almost found suspicious. They had never met a celebrity before despite him swearing up and down that he really wasn't one. Both pestered him with questions about where he lived, about Bruce Wayne and his family, about growing up, and every little detail they could think of that he might answer. He answered as best as he could, but was soon overwhelmed by their interest. Patricia finally took pity on him and chased them away by making them set the table.

Dinner was a happy, loud affair the likes of which he had never experienced in a family setting. Meals at the Wayne Manor had been quiet and subdued. Dick had always done most of the talking. Now Dick barely got a word in edge wise as the two kids told him about every sport, scouting, and horseback riding event they were involved in. It was as though they were trying desperately to impress him. He really didn't understand why. He was really no one special. Just a boy who'd been adopted by a millionaire and had done very little to make a name for himself. Patricia threatened them with no dessert if they didn't stop swamping him with information. They immediately subsided and dinner became a much calmer, quieter affair. They still watched him like hawks though.

After dinner was finished, the dishes cleaned up, and the left overs put away, they all retreated to the living room. Patrick and Paige took out a deck of cards to begin a game of war. Pat and Ivy sat on the couch, while Dick settled on the arm next to Ivy. They idly chatted as they polished off night caps. This was the kind of family environment Dick had always wanted. In Wayne Manor, he was either alone or with Alfred, and spent very little time with Bruce out of costume. He wasn't ungrateful for his childhood. It had been a good one, if a little lonely for a young boy. He couldn't complain though. He had never wanted for anything. Bruce had loved him as his son and expressed it as much as he was able too. That was fine with Dick. If Bruce had been more outwardly expressive, Dick probably would have thought the man was desperately ill. Still, for a child that went from the constant activity and companionship of living in the circus to moving into a massive, lonely old manor, it had been quite a life change. This was the kind of family environment he had always secretly longed for as a child. It was peaceful and joyful.

"What's it like to be a vigilante?" Patrick asked him, breaking the content silence that had fallen over the living room. He'd been nearly bursting to ask it all evening.

Dick nearly fell off the arm of the couch in his shock as he whipped around to gap at the young boy. "What?!"

"We all know you're Nightwing." The boy gave him an exasperated look.

Dick turned accusing eyes towards Patricia. She shook her head in denial. "I haven't said a word!"

"We heard you and Aunt Pay whispering about it." Paige spoke up. "I mean, me and Patrick knew Aunt Pay was Poison Ivy. Mom told us a short version of the story. I just happened to hear Mom say something about Nightwing being William's dad to Aunt Pay before Dick even showed up. There were a lot of other little things said. It didn't take much to figure out Dick was Nightwing."

"And here I thought you never paid attention." Patricia remarked to her pre-teen daughter. Paige rolled her eyes. Paige was barely thirteen. She walked around with her head in the clouds more than half the day. Every time Patricia wanted to talk to her daughter lately, she'd have to yell at Paige before she got any attention. She'd remember not to underestimate her daughter from now on. "I'm gonna guess Paige told you then?" She asked Patrick.

"Yep!" Patrick grinned, before turning his attention back to Dick. "So what's it like!?"

Dick frowned. "Listen, the both of you."

The look on his face must have made them realize that something very serious was about to be discussed. Both kids looked up at him with unusually solemn expressions.

"Your aunt has a very long list of enemies. As Nightwing, I have a very long list of enemies. All of these enemies are crazy, psychotic killers. They will hurt or kill you to get to your aunt or me. So far you both have been very good at keeping our secret. But this has to stay in the family; just between those of us in this room. Not a word of it can get out. Not even a hint." Dick was deadly serious. "That means that even when you want to impress your friends, you keep it to yourself." His eyes settled on Patrick.

The boy nodded with a look of fear in his eyes.

"Being a vigilante is dangerous. I fight every night to protect the citizens of Gotham. It's serious work. It's not playtime." Dick spoke to Patrick, but he could see that Paige was riveted on his every word as well. "That's not to say I don't have fun." A slow smile crept across his face.

"Have you almost died?" Paige asked, a little breathlessly.

"To many times to count." Dick answered evenly. He glanced over at Ivy. He remembered thinking he was going to die before he ever got to leave her hideout. She caught his gaze and seemed to sense what he was thinking. She reached out to take his hand before squeezing his fingers tightly.

"You were Robin, weren't you?" Patrick inquired, scooting closer in anticipation of the answer.

Dick grinned. "Yep."

"How old were you?"

The young man's blue eyes shuttered for a moment. "Younger than you. But I had to fight. Someone had murdered my parents. I couldn't let that happen to another kid."

"I can't believe you got to stay up all night fighting bad guys!" Patrick gasped in amazement.

"Not all night." Dick corrected. "I still had to go to school. I had to be in bed by 2am. Batman's orders."

"What a buzzkill!" Patrick protested.

Dick laughed out right at that. "I thought the same thing too."

"How'd you have any girlfriends or go on any dates? Did you even get to go to prom?" Paige looked like she couldn't even fathom missing such important teenage moments.

"I didn't really have to many girlfriends. I had one for a little while. She was different though." Ivy's hand tightened almost painfully on his and he fought back the smirk of amusement at her jealousy. "I missed all of my high school dances."

"That's horrible! Nothing's worth that!" Paige exclaimed in disgust.

Dick had to bite his lip not to howl with laughter. Oh, the importance of things when you're a young teenage girl.

"So you used to fight Aunt Pay, right?" Patrick switched the subject back to more interesting things.

"I did a few times." Dick admitted.

"Well then how did you guys fall in love and end up with a baby?" Paige crossed her arms over her chest.

Dick swallowed hard and looked at Ivy for help.

"It's your interrogation, Bird," she smirked, bouncing William lightly in her arms.

"Yes, but the whole scheme was yours, not mine." He argued.

Ivy grinned. "I captured him, Paige. You could say we came to an understanding while he was in my care."

Patricia snorted into her cup, trying not to choke on the sip of water she'd just taken. She recovered after a moment. "Is that what you both are calling it now?"

Dick's cheeks flushed with embarrassment. "Well, I'm not about to tell them the whole story."

"Because it's more R rated?" Paige put in.

"Something like that." Ivy replied evenly.

Thankfully, that aspect of the conversation was finally dropped. Dick spent the rest of the evening regaling the children with stories of his vigilante days. He did not mention ever fighting Ivy. He had no desire to stir up that pot of memories for either of them. Ivy seemed to enjoy hearing his stories as much as the children. It was a side of him that she had never known before. It was one thing to be a part of it or on the receiving end of Batman's version of justice. It was another entirely to listen to the man that had once been Robin talk about his experiences growing up fighting villains.

It was late by the time, Ivy and Dick took their leave of the Isley clan.

"Thank you for being so patient with Paige and Patrick," Ivy squeezed Dick's hand on the drive back to her apartment.

"You're welcome. I had a great time with all of them." He smiled and squeezed back. "You're lucky to have such a wonderful family."

"I am." She whispered. "I truly am."

/

Saturday was Patrick's party. There was so much good food that Dick had no idea what to eat first. Pat's house was packed with people. Every single person had to come up to shake his hand and greet him. He was surrounded by admiring women of all ages that gushed over him. They never overwhelmed him though. Whenever it started to get a little to much Ivy would chase them off or their husbands and/or parents would come collect them. He enjoyed himself despite the overdose of attention. He didn't think he had ever laughed or smiled so much. He felt truly included in the celebration instead of an outsider or someone just pretending to be part of the party. It was like no other social event he had ever been too. It wasn't glitzy, fake, or overdone. It was good, honest fun and happiness. The kids played games, the adults chatted and mingled, and the food never ran out. Not a word was ever mentioned about William looking so much like Dick or his relationship with Payton. He could tell the women were dying of curiosity. Not one spoke up. It was a relief for Dick. He had no idea what he would have said to any of those questions.

The time for presents came around. Dick watched in amusement as Patrick tore into his pile of gifts. He soon had an impressive pile of all the latest cool toys and clothes. Dick's present was the last, smallest one in the pile. Patrick ripped the paper off the box and yanked the cover away. His eyes went wide as he pulled out three tickets.

"Orlando beach!" He yelled in excitement. "Are you serious!?"

"I figured your family could use a little vacation." Dick grinned sheepishly.

"Oh my God, Dick!" Pat's mouth fell open as she took the tickets and read the fine print. "This is an all-expenses paid trip! You didn't have to do that."

Dick shrugged. "I wanted to. You all deserve it. Happy birthday Patrick."

"Thank you! Thank you!" Patrick jumped up and hugged him.

"You're welcome. Have fun. You'll have to tell me how it was when you come back." Dick hugged him back.

"I will! Orlando! This gonna be awesome!" The boy exclaimed. "I heard they have lots of sharks!"

Ivy patted Dick's shoulder. "Good choice." She whispered into her lover's ear.

"I do try." Dick whispered back before kissing her briefly.

After that the presents were set aside and the cake brought out. The rest of the party seemed to fly by in a round of sugar overdose from every child present. The adults simply tried to stay out of the way and let the kids run themselves out in the backyard. Ivy decided it was best to take their leave. William was becoming overwhelmed and cranky from the noise and bustle. They said their good byes before slipping away.

Soon as William was put to bed, they spent the rest of the evening soaking in the tub. This time it was Dick's turn to lavish Ivy with attention. He spent a long time washing every inch of her skin until she was so calm and languid that she was nearly asleep against his chest. He sang gently to her the entire time. Although it was not sexual, it was the most intimate experience Dick had ever had with a lover. At length, when the water had gone cold, he lifted her out of the tub and dried her off before carrying her to bed. They slept curled together the entire night. William did not wake even once to disturb the peace that had settled over them.

The next day, Ivy drove them out to the lake front. She packed a picnic lunch and several towels. They spent the morning playing in the water. William discovered the joy of splashing water. Dick was more than happy to hold his son in his lap while sitting in the shallows letting William play. The baby giggled wildly as he slapped the surface of the water repeatedly. Ivy lounged back on her elbows in the water beside them. Dick thought she looked beautiful even with the silly, floppy sun hat she had on. Her emerald green bikini accentuated her hair and her eyes perfectly. Her lips looked ruby red. Her skin was like polished white opal swirled with hints of mint green in the sunlight. He refused let himself worry about that. Today was meant for relaxing and enjoying their time together.

Lunch was a leisurely affair of salad and fresh fruits. William lay on his stomach, trying to grab at the containers of strawberries like he was jealous he could not eat it yet. To both parents amazement, William raised himself up onto his forearms and knees. He rocked back and forth for just a moment before dropping back to his stomach.

"Wow, strong man!" Dick praised with a bright grin.

Ivy clapped her hands as the baby tried again. "He's not supposed to be doing that for at least another month."

"He's got places to be," Dick laughed as he encouraged William to keep trying.

The baby managed a few more 'push ups' before finally tiring out and falling asleep on his stomach.

"He's like a kitten. Drops soon as he's worn himself out." Dick remarked with a fond smile.

"He sleeps anywhere too," Ivy chuckled.

"He's a great kid. We did a good job when we made him." Dick teased, scooting over to Ivy and giving her a kiss.

"Yes, we did." Ivy grinned and stole another kiss.

Dick lay down on his back beside Ivy as she packed the food away. It had been a wonderful weekend. Not a moment of it had been bad. That was highly unusual in Dick's experience. Good things never lasted long for him. Yet, this weekend gave him hope. Maybe he and Ivy could really work. Maybe this wasn't just some fantasy he hoped would last. They could have this together. He reached over to curl his fingers into Ivy's. She glanced down at him and smiled softly. A smile meant only for him. He reached over to rub William's little back. The baby sighed happily in response. A joyful smile curled across his lips. He turned his gaze out over the lake, watching the beautiful sunlight glitter brightly on the water's surface. He was truly happy. His dream of finally having his own family seemed to be coming true.

/

Be a responsible reader and review!

The next part is gearing up to be a roller coaster. Readers be warned! The rating will be back up at X for the next part.


	5. Part 5: Fucked up on life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: This chapter is a beast at 30 pages long. It might seem a bit like déjà vu of the first chapter, and that’s intentional. Also, it’s ten kinds of fucked up and I know a lot of you are probably gonna scream at the end of this chapter. I apologize in advance. I blame it on my shitty state of mind for the last two years every time I tried to work on this chapter. I kinda hate it. But fuck it, the damn thing’s been nearly written for so long. I’m not re-writing it. Bear with me. I know this chapter is gonna be a roller coaster… *For AO3 readers, I will fix the format tomorrow. I'm tired*  
> Trigger warnings: Panic, anxiety, and fear in large quantities. Pain, non-con sex, mentions of death and murder (kinda typical for Batman related stories). Ye be warned.

Part Five  
I've been up in the air, lost in the night.  
I wouldn't trade an eye for your lies.  
Your lust for my life.  
Is this the end, hey?

You were the love of my life, the darkness, the light.  
This is a portrait of a tortured you and I.  
Is this the, is this the, is this the end?  
-Up In The Air, By: 30 Second to Mars  
/////////  
He should have known better.  
Things had been going to well for to long. Eventually things always tipped in the other direction. There had been no major villains to fight in weeks. He had been able to visit Ivy and William nearly every other weekend. Bruce still gave him suspicious looks, but otherwise, had left him alone about his relationship with the woman in Florida. William got bigger and stronger every time Dick visited. Ivy reminded him with every visit why he was so in love with her. It was all perfect.  
It was to perfect.  
Things couldn’t stay good forever, especially not in Gotham for the vigilantes that defended the city. Certainly not for Nightwing, who had a villaness in particular after him for revenge. Maybe he shouldn’t have been so dismissive of Harley’s threats about getting even. She had proven more than once that she was capable of being dangerous on her own. She was not the only female villain he had pissed off over the years though. He really shouldn’t have been surprised to find out that Harley had broken out of Arkham again. He probably would have noticed a lot of things more quickly if he hadn’t been patrolling with his head in the clouds, day dreaming about his next visit to Florida. This was a lesson he should have learned the first time he got captured when Harley was involved. It was his fault for landing in this situation.  
That didn’t make him feel any better.  
He found himself alone, once more, in a dark, empty building with a mad clowness stalking him. Panic sparked through his mind as Harley’s girlish giggle whispered through the darkness seconds before he lost consciousness in a blinding flash of pain.  
//////////  
He woke up, suddenly, and scrambled to his feet—or at least he tried. He barely made it a few inches before he was jerked to a stop. Fear clawed up his throat, lodging against his voice box and gripping his chest like a giant fist. He was chained to the floor by his wrists and his ankles. He was stripped naked with only his mask left to cover his face. Why she hadn’t taken it off him was a mystery. Every worst case scenario and wild escape plan ran through his mind at warp speed as he swung his head around to scan his surroundings.  
He was back inside the first house he’d been imprisoned in. Until his dying day, he would remember every detail of this dilapidated house. The paint had long since peeled off all the walls. The floor was made of scarred, ancient wood with gaps in between many of the slats. There was no furniture except the threadbare old sofa on which he lounged with Ivy so many times. He was laid out on the same old futon. He had a different set of chains with no padding in the manacles this time.  
Harley was sitting on the couch, staring at him with a crazed gleam in her eyes.  
“Good to see you’re awake,” She smirked. “I hate waiting for things. And I want to play with you.”  
He forced himself to breathe normally as he shoved down the horror that shuddered through him at her words. “Harley…”  
“Before you waste your breath pleading to my “good” side,” She stood up and stalked towards him. “I have been dreaming of this moment since we last met.”  
Nightwing went still. He forced himself to breathe past the panic curling in his gut, burning through his chest like acid, and choking him. He could feel the tension coiling in her. He did not want to provoke her. There would be no talking his way out or appealing to her. This was not a situation he had ever believed to be in again; especially not in the same house. Unfortunately, he had not figured out how to free himself while naked yet. He was going to have to wait for an opportunity or for someone to find him. Neither option was a good one.  
“Harley,” he tried to placate her.  
“Shut up! You ruined everything!” She screamed, leaping on him. “Mister Jay won’t even look at me! He hates me now!” His breath was choked from him as she grabbed him by the throat and squeezed tight. Spots of light exploded in his vision when she smacked his head down so hard not even the futon padding could soften the blow. “Then I started to think as I sat alone in my cell. No Poison Ivy and no Mister Jay to go back to. You ruined that too. I HAVE NO ONE!” Her hands loosened for just a moment. “I have nothing left. And all I could think about was how I wanted to bring you as low as I am.”  
Abruptly, she let go and jumped to her feet. She disappeared into the bathroom for a moment. When she returned there was an over bright smile on her lips, which gave her a more maniacal look. Harley held up a tube of lipstick and a bottle of pink pollen with a nasty grin. Nightwing felt bile rise up the back of his throat. He struggled to get away, but there was nowhere to go. This was worse than déjà vu. It was all happening again and he was just as helpless to stop it as last time. “Not so brave now, huh? I’m going to use you up and toss you aside like you’re nothing. So you know just how I feel. The one thrown aside. The one no one wants anymore.” Harley snarled as she poured a generous handful of the dust into her hand. She grabbed his jaw with her other hand.  
He jerked his head back, clamped his mouth shut, and held his breath in defiance. He knew he was only delaying the inevitable. She let go of his jaw to punch him in the gut. The blow was hard enough to make him gasp. His next gasping lungful of air was filled with the taste of sex pollen. It melted like honey on his tongue tasting of sunshine and sweetness. He hated it! He waited for the effects to start. He blinked in surprise when nothing happened. He felt no ensuing rush of heat through his body. There was no sudden loss of control over his hormones or the overwhelming need to rut with closest person to him. The lack of sensation was almost anticlimactic.  
Surprise and rage flashed across Harley’s face when she realized the dust was having no effect. She quickly applied the lipstick to her lips before grabbing his face. He struggled, trying to thrash his head away. Her grip was just strong enough to hold him still to press a swift kiss to his open mouth. He cringed at the bitter taste that flooded his mouth. The taste made dark memories threaten to overwhelm him for a moment. Panic made his world tilt until he forced it under control. Again there was nothing. He felt no different. There was no overpowering need to please her.  
“Do you feel like pleasing me now?” Harley asked sweetly.  
“No.” He snarled. He spat to the side in an attempt to get the taste of drugs out of his mouth.  
“Why didn’t it work?” snapped Harley. She glared at the tube of lipstick before chucking it angrily across the room. “Don’t tell me that stuff expired!”  
Nightwing was just as confused as the clowness. The drugs had been effective when Ivy had previously used them. In fact, she’d confessed that the drugs grew more potent with age when left to sit. He could only assume his recent genetic mutations were playing a part in his resistance to Ivy’s drugs. He was more than grateful now for those changes. The longer he was able to keep a clear head the better chance he had of escaping.  
“It doesn’t matter!” Harley declared with a wild grin. “There are other ways to get the same results! I just have to go visit a friend.” She hopped to her feet and clapped her hands.  
Shit, Nightwing thought. This was getting worse by the minute. He needed to escape while she was gone or he’d have no chance at all. There was no way he was going through this again! This time there was no Ivy to protect him or make it even remotely enjoyable. He had no doubt that he wouldn’t make it out of this encounter alive if Harley had her way.  
“And just so you don’t go missing while I’m gone…,” Harley smirked, grabbing a bottle of chloroform and soaking a rag with it. “You’ll be taking a nap.”  
Harley grabbed his face, and pressed the cloth to his mouth. He tried to hold his breath again, but a swift punch to his solar plexus had him gagging on the sharp taste of chloroform. In seconds, the drug was flooding his senses and leaving him reeling. The room began to fade around the edges as Harley leaned in.  
“Nighty night, birdy!” She sing-songed at him.  
The dark narrowed in until all he could see was her Cheshire cat smile then that too was gone…  
//////////  
Nightwing startled awake with a sharp gasp. Harley was humming dementedly as she prepped a syringe full of pink liquid with a needle.  
“Now this lovely little drug,” Harley grinned as she held up the syringe, “is still new. It’s just starting to get popular here in Gotham. It’s part aphrodisiac and part psychedelic. It’s supposed to give the user the wildest high while sending your libido into overdrive.”  
Nightwing swallowed back bile. He’d never done drugs in his life. Even pain pills had to be forced on him. The only ones he’d ever had the misfortune to cross were Ivy’s concoctions. Drugs scared him. He’d seen to many incidents of what happened to the people who got addicted. Drugs caused wars, starvation, and good people to become evil. He struggled to scramble away but the chains yanked him up short.  
“Aww, there’s no reason to be scared, bird boy,” Harley purred. “It’ll wear off.”  
He flinched hard as she stabbed the needle into his arm.  
“It’s not the drugs you should be scared of,” Harley smirked; her eyes glinted with wicked intent.  
The world around him seemed to grow suddenly brighter and sharper. He blinked rapidly as shapes in the room began to grow significantly more interesting. Colors in the room, in Harley’s costume, and even the blue in clowness’ eyes appeared more intense and vibrant. The fear in his mind slipped away to nothing. In a moment, the world had lost all meaning and was replaced by an intense need for touch and sensation. Overwhelming lust seemed to curl like tendrils of fire into his loins then up into his balls then his cock. He seemed to be unbelievably aroused in only a few heartbeats. He shifted restlessly. His eyes went wide as his back and buttocks rubbed against the floor, shivering at the pleasure of the friction on his bare skin.  
His eyes swept across the room again taking in the dizzying, sparkling lights above him. A figure in dizzying swirls of red, white, and black crouched in front of him, bringing into focus a leering, wide smile set in an evil white face. He scrambled to get away but there was something on his wrists holding him down. Panic shot down every nerve. This time the pain of whatever was cutting into his wrists didn’t stop him. He kept on yanking on the cuffs until blood dripped down his fingers.  
“Awww, am I scaring you?” That leering face asked him, wide smile seeming to split its face in half.  
Nightwing whimpered and fought harder still.  
“Shhhh…don’t worry birdy. I’ll make it all better.”  
He relaxed when the figure backed off then disappeared out of his line of sight. She hurried into the bathroom to rinse the makeup from her face. When she returned Nightwing seemed to have settled back into the total euphoric state he had been before seeing her costume.  
Nightwing had never been so high in his life. Everything felt surreal and yet too real. His skin felt to tight for his body. Every brush of the floor and shackles against his overheating flesh felt amazing. His brain felt adrift in a sea of colors, sounds, and intense need. The only thing he knew for sure was that his cock ached unbearably. He needed to be touched. He shifted his hands trying to reach for his dick and got stopped up just a smidgen to short by the chains. The cuffs scraped across the thin skin of his wrists, making him groan in delight.  
“Uh uh, Birdy,” a soft, lilting voice caught his attention. “You don’t get to touch.”  
His mouth fell open on a gasp as a beautiful woman like the vision of an angel appeared above him. White blond hair framed her face to tumble over her shoulders. Her bright blue eyes seemed to glow almost fluorescent to him. She was completely nude, making his body ache even more at the sight of her bare womanhood. His hands inadvertently rose towards her as if in supplication for her to relieve him of the agonizing arousal building steadily within him.  
“You want me bad,” she realized with a wicked grin.  
He nodded breathlessly as his fingers brushed over the delicate skin on her ankle. She stepped over him so that her feet were bracketing his hips. He had a brief flash back of a beautiful redhead standing over him much the same way. He blinked and the momentary hallucination was gone. His eyes trailed up the length of her body before settling on her gleaming smile. His cock throbbed hard as his fingers grazed over the soft, sleek line of her calves. To his sensitized skin, she felt like the most amazingly soft thing he’d ever touched. He wanted to feel more of her. She dropped to her knees to straddle his hips just above his erection. He keened in delight as she rubbed her damp sex across his abs. He arched his hips, struggling for more of any sensation he could get. She laughed in mean delight as she rose up and broke the contact between them. His hands gripped her thighs trying to force her back down, but she shoved his hands away with a growl.  
She leaned forward to bite his throat, where she’d learned long ago was his most sensitive spot. He yelped as a bolt of intense ecstasy sparked down his nerves to his cock. The peaks of her breasts brushed furtively across his chest, making him ache to get his mouth on them. His hands drifted up her thighs once more, back around to the firm, soft globes of her ass, and then boldly down to tease her womanhood from behind. She sighed in delight as he slipped one finger inside her. She dragged her nipples down his chest as she slowly sat back. He pressed another finger inside her, groaning as her walls clamped around him. He rutted his cock up against her backside, desperately wishing he could bury himself inside her. She felt incredible. He reached up to touch her breast and growled in frustration when he couldn’t reach.  
“I’m going to make you beg,” the woman whispered into his ear. “I’m going to use you and then…I’m going to kill you. You’ll look so pretty covered in red…”  
Nightwing blinked but couldn’t make sense of what had been said. He knew the words meant something, but the meaning slipped his mind. He took a shuddering breath when the woman moved to sit up and her bright blue eyes mesmerized him again. How could she have such amazing, glowing eyes? He forgot the question almost immediately in the soft press of her body against his. The slide of skin across skin made him shiver and keen again. He wanted more—needed more. He couldn’t seem to grasp for the words to say what he wanted.  
A moment later, she took his cock in hand and guided him inside her. He finally got what he wanted. The rest of the world blanked out around him, except for overwhelming pleasure. All he could do was hold on and scream as she drove him mercilessly towards orgasm, over and over, without letting him come.  
//////////  
Ivy smiled as the phone rang in the front pocket of her apron. Dick rarely called her when he knew she was working. She took a moment to pull the gloves off her hands before answering it. “Hello, Bird,” She answered cheerfully.  
There was a long moment of silence. Anxiety suddenly made her chest burn and her breath catch.  
“Umm…Poison Ivy?” A young man’s voice carried through the phone. It sounded distantly familiar.  
Ice seemed to freeze her heart in her chest. “Who is this?” Her voice lost all of its warmth. For the first time in ages she sounded like the villaness she used to be.  
“Robin,” the hesitant voice replied.  
Terror seized her. Dick would never let anyone touch this phone unless he wasn’t around to stop it. The boy didn’t need to explain for her to know instantly something horrible had happened to Dick. “Where is he?” She gripped the phone tight.  
“I…we don’t know!” Robin blurted. He sounded panicked. “We’ve looked everywhere. It’s just like last time. No trace left except a scrap of Harley’s costume and this phone.”  
Ivy nearly broke the phone as rage swept through her. Harley had her Bird! She would kill that stupid clown bitch. How dare she touch what belonged to Ivy!  
“We—I need your help!” The boy begged. “Batman would kill me if he knew I was calling you. But I don’t know what else to do! He’s my brother and I can’t--!” Robin broke off abruptly.  
They knew Nightwing wouldn’t survive this time. Harley hated him to much.  
“I’ll be there tonight.” She promised. “Meet me on the roof of Gotham Botanical Garden. I’ll need some help collecting a few things. I have a few ideas of where she might go.”  
“Ok. I’ll be there.” Robin sounded relieved.  
“Don’t breathe a word of this to anyone.” She warned the boy.  
“I won’t. I promise.” He swore. “Just hurry.”  
She hung up abruptly. Her first impulse was to drop everything she was doing and race towards Gotham. But she couldn’t do that anymore. She was a mother. She had a life. There were things she had to take care of before she could go running off anymore. With a thoughtful frown, she removed her apron and hung it on the peg at the greenhouse door. She walked in to the flower shop through the back door straight to the front counter. Jennifer gave her a questioning look from a few feet away where she was helping a customer when Ivy picked up the phone.  
The phone only rang twice before Patricia answered it. She rattled off her prepared flower shop greeting before Ivy could cut in. “Pat!”  
“Pay? What’s up?” She asked, sensing that there was trouble.  
“I have to leave town immediately. I have to go back to Gotham. I need you to watch William for a few days. I don’t know when I’ll be back.” Ivy told her sister.  
“Pay, you promised!” Patricia sounded scared.  
Ivy swallowed thickly. “I know what I promised. I am not going back for that. My Bird needs me. He may be dead before I can reach him. This isn’t about me.”  
“Oh, Pay,” Patricia gasped over the phone. “There’s got to be someone else who can--.”  
“No.” Ivy was stern. “He’s mine. I will get him back. Just please, watch William for me. I will come back. And this will be the end of it.”  
“Ok.” Her sister took a shuddering breath. “Ok, I will. Just…don’t let that city destroy you again.”  
“It won’t.” She gripped the phone hard enough to make the plastic crackle. “Thank you. I love you so much, Pat. I’ll be back as soon as possible. Good bye.”  
“I love you too. Be careful. Good bye.” Patricia hung up the phone.  
Ivy set the phone back down in the cradle. “Jennifer!”  
The girl walked over. “Yes?”  
“I’m going to be gone for a few days. Can you open and close the shop by yourself?”  
“Of course!” Jennifer answered. “Is something wrong?”  
“Nothing I can’t fix.” Ivy smiled, but it held a bitter edge. “Make sure you feed the flowers in the greenhouse every morning and evening.”  
“Alright. Take care. Hope everything works out well.” The girl smiled brightly.  
“Thank you.” Ivy patted her on the arm before slipping out the front door. She still had so much to do. She hurried towards her apartment, making a list in her head of all she’d need. She hoped that she wouldn’t be to late. She prayed that Nightwing could hold out until she could get to Gotham. Harley would not draw breath again if her Bird died. Ivy would not allow him to slip away from her. He was hers alone. As much as she dreaded returning to Gotham she would do anything to keep him at her side.  
//////////  
The night was deceptively calm as Robin landed on the roof of Gotham Botanical Garden. A light breeze was playing through the leaves surrounding the building. The downtown lights lit up the low hanging clouds with a reddish glow that Robin had always found disturbing. There were no cars in the parking lot, save two from the security guards watching the place. It was quiet.  
He tensed, whirling around with a batarang poised in his fingers, as something shifted in the shadows behind him. A quick blink did not dispel the image of the beautiful, red haired woman standing near the roof hatch. The last time Robin had seen Poison Ivy, she was still sporting her green, figure hugging costume. This Poison Ivy looked suspiciously like any other mother he might pass on the street on the way to school in the mornings. It was really freaking weird.  
“You took your time getting here,” Ivy remarked.  
Robin cleared his throat. “Yeah, I had a hard time making up a convincing lie to throw Batman off.” Batman should be on the other side of the city pursuing an empty lead.  
“I need you to help me break into the Gardens.” Ivy stated calmly.  
Robin’s eyes went wide. “Break in!?”  
“If you want to save Nightwing, I need to get inside this building. I hid some of my plants and belongings in the Gardens when I first used it. Without them, I can’t help.” She answered, as she peered through the skylights.  
“But I--?” the boy started to protest.  
She turned her head to glare at the young vigilante. “You called me. I will get in with or without you. You are wasting time.”  
Robin took a deep breath. “Right.”  
“So help me.” She pressed sternly.  
“Ok.” He glanced down at the skylights then over to the hatch that led down into the Gardens from the roof. “Ok.” He stood and headed over to the hatch. The lock seemed simple enough. It was quick work to pick it open. He slowly pried the door open, waiting for a squeak or a grind from the hinges, but there was none. He glanced back at Ivy, who nodded approvingly. It was so weird to be helping her. She was still classified as a wanted criminal in Batman’s database. But if anyone was going to help him find and save Nightwing in time it would be her.  
He stepped back to allow her to slip past him down the stairs. He followed her closely, keeping an eye out for any security. Ivy seemed unconcerned as she moved through the darkened building with familiar ease. He wondered how often she used to come back here to stash things with how comfortable she seemed to be in the Gardens.  
At the back of the Gardens, a small tool shed was pushed up against the wall. It seemed like any other normal backyard shed. Robin knew better than most that looks were deceiving, especially when Ivy directed him to pick the lock. The deadbolt was even easier than the hatch on the roof. She pushed the door open, stepping in without any hesitation, despite the pitch dark interior of the shed. She flipped the light on. Robin flinched back and glanced around quickly. Not a soul was in sight. The tension eased out of his shoulders a little.  
Ivy went to work pushing several tool boxes, buckets, along with other odds and ends out of the back left corner. The last thing she pulled up was a folded up tarp. Underneath it was a handle to an obvious trap door in the floor. She yanked it up and reached inside the square cut out to pull up a large metal security box with a numbered lock on it. The box was open in a matter of seconds. Robin couldn’t resist leaning in to see what was hidden inside. He blushed brightly when he saw the green tights and signature leotard Ivy had been known to wear.  
“Let me change.” She smiled at him, enjoying his discomfort.  
“Yeah, sure.” He backed out of the shed. “I’ll wait…over there.” He pointed at a random tree a dozen yards away before hurrying towards it.  
Ivy shook her head and pushed the door mostly shut in his wake. She stared at the costume for a long moment. A sharp burst of fear made her chest feel tight. It had been over a year since she’d put on this outfit. She’d promised herself that she never would again. The same promise had been made for returning to Gotham. Yet, here she was staring down at a piece of her old life that she just wanted to set on fire. With trembling hands, she pulled the outfit from the box and began to pull it on. It made her feel as though slow poison was crawling over her skin. The old anger, hatred, fear, desire, and crazed need to feel any kind of passionate emotion was like a shroud being pulled over her. She remembered that this was how it felt to be Poison Ivy. She had been driven by some desperate desire to take, control and destroy just to feel something other than disgust in herself.  
For a wild moment she wanted to rip the costume off and fling it back into the hole where she’d found it. “For Nightwing,” she reminded herself sternly. “For my bird.” She resolutely pulled on her boots then fixed her gloves. This was not who she was anymore. For one night, she could act like Poison Ivy. She would not let that being consume her ever again.  
She pushed open the shed door and strode out. Robin sucked in a sharp breath at the sight of the familiar villainess. With normal clothes on, he had been almost fooled by her. Now there was no avoiding or pretending. He was helping a wanted fugitive. He felt a little sickened at the idea of what he was doing and what Bruce would do to him when he found out. On the other hand, he could also see why his brother had gotten obsessed with Ivy. He rarely looked at the villainesses in any way but as a threat. It was hard to ignore how beautiful Ivy was in that outfit. Not a curve was hidden from sight. Robin swallowed as she moved past him. He forced himself not to stare.  
He followed after her as she moved purposefully further into the densest part of the Gardens. It felt more like a forest now with the tall trees surrounding the walking path. Ivy hurried along until she reached the thickest grouping of trees. Winding ivy vines curled up around the trees and over their limbs.  
“Oh my pets,” Ivy purred in delight.  
Robin watched in amazement as she touched the ivy. Instantly it responded to her. The ivy uncurled from one of the trees to curl around her hand. It acted much like a cat rubbing itself affectionately against its owner. It slowly climbed up her arm to wind around her shoulder then down around her waist until it had fully detached from the tree it had been living upon. The ivy vine continued to crawl until it settled down both her arms. Robin shivered at the sight and prayed again that he was making the right decision.  
“Now,” Ivy said, resolutely, as she turned to face the young vigilante. “I know exactly where Harley will be. She’ll want to punish him. So she will take him back to the same house we kept him in. To her, it will seem like a twisted kind of justice.”  
“That’s…really sick.” Robin swallowed.  
Ivy smiled, but it did not reach her eyes. “When we get there do not interfere.”  
“But I thought--,” Robin began to protest.  
“Stay out of it.” Ivy’s tone brokered no argument. “This is a fight between us. It has been a long time in coming. I do not wish to harm you on accident. Stay out of the way once you free Nightwing.”  
Robin stared at her for a long moment in consideration. It was really bizarre to be hearing a villainess tell him she was trying to protect him. “Ok. I promise.” He swore, but amended in his mind ‘unless something happens and I can help’.  
“Good. Let’s go,” she swept past to leave him hurrying to catch up in her wake.  
/////////  
Ivy had given Robin the coordinates to the safe house. Robin had sworn that he would never drive Batman’s car without permission. He figured it wasn’t a broken promise if the car was driving itself. He punched the address into the GPS and let the autopilot take over. He refused to let Ivy sit in the driver’s seat. Batman would never forgive him for letting her in that sacred spot. His life was already close to forfeit for even letting her in the car and for borrowing it in the first place: along with the lying and sneaking around to help a villain.  
The car flew down the streets with ease. Tense silence filled the space between him and Ivy. He glanced at her as furtively as he could. Admittedly, he could see why his step brother had been attracted to her. She was beautiful, but she was terrifying. Right now, she reminded him of a rose whose thorns had been dipped in venom. It was probably a horrible mistake to involve her. Desperation had been the driving force behind his decision. He refused to regret it. He would never lose family again if he could do something about it.  
The car stopped a block away from the safe house. They left it parked behind another abandoned house in an alley. Robin made sure to triple check the locks before finally leaving it behind. Ivy did not even try to hide her approach. She was a woman hell bent on revenge. He stayed a few paces behind, letting her take the lead as promised. He had no desire to get into the middle of the epic female fight that was about to take place.  
Ivy marched up the stairs. When she reached the door, she touched the tip of her finger to the door lock. Acid seeped from her gloves and melted the lock out of the door. She slammed the door open. Satisfaction rippled through her as it smashed against the wall with a terrific bang. Harley jumped up with a shriek from Nightwing’s prone body. A knife fell, clanging to the floor, from Harley’s unmoving fingers. Blood was smeared across her fingers, belly, and thighs stark against the paleness of her bared body.  
Harley shrank back in fear as Ivy advanced on her. The red head hardly noticed Robin slipping in behind her, keeping his eyes averted from Harley’s naked form. Ivy stalked forward until she was looming over Nightwing. She glanced down to assess his injuries. His throat was deeply bruised with finger prints. A thin cut was slowly seeping blood just above his left clavicle. Nail scratches lashed across his chest, stomach, arms, and thighs some deep enough to draw blood. More cuts followed the paths of some of the scratch marks. It appeared they had interrupted before Harley could begin to seriously maim him.  
Nightwing stared up at Ivy with pupils so dilated she couldn’t even see the blue of his irises. He was covered in a sheen of sweat and smeared blood. His chest heaved with rapid drawn breaths. It was obvious he had been drugged. Despite all that, there was recognition in his gaze. His expression was one of open relief and hope. Ivy felt relief wash over her. He was not lost to her. That did not quell her anger though.  
“You dared to touch what was mine!” Ivy hissed as her eyes glowed green with rage.  
“You never came back! You left me! And it was his fault!” Harley shouted, gesturing wildly at the vigilante who was slowly pulling himself up to sit at Ivy’s feet. “He took Mister Jay from me! He took everything!”  
Ivy did not feel any sympathy for the woman she had once called her best friend. In her peripheral, Robin was cutting off the shackles from Nightwing’s wrists and ankles. “You have always been entirely to co-dependent upon other people. Joker has been using you all along. I have been telling you for ages that the Joker never loved you.”  
“YES HE DID!” Harley screamed. “Mr. J did until HE ruined it!” She pointed at Nightwing and sneered. “And he made you leave! I THOUGHT YOU LOVED ME. IT WAS ME AND YOU AGAINST THE WORLD!”  
“I may have loved you once, but not anymore. You were to wrapped up in Joker. I got sick of it.” Ivy replied steadily. “I left on my own. Nightwing had nothing to do with that.” The lie slipped easily from her lips. She reached down to run her fingers through Nightwing’s hair when he leaned against her leg for support. “I told you what would happen if you touched my things.” Her voice went cold and furious once more.  
Fear sparked through Harley’s eyes again, but it was quickly covered up by anger. “We were supposed to share him from the beginning! He’s just as much mine as yours!”  
“Harley…,” Ivy shook her head as a mean smile spread across her lips. “How do you think Batman knew where to find you when you left the safe house to get money?”  
The clowness’s eyes went wide in shock. “You sold me out.”  
“I don’t like to share, Harley. Especially not pretty things I intend to keep for a long time. Nightwing is mine.” Ivy’s fingers tightened on the back of the vigilante’s neck. Nightwing tipped his head forward in submission, groaning softly.  
Harley screamed in fury. “HE RUINED EVERYTHING! I’LL KILL HIM!” She sprang forward, fingers curled in like claws.  
Ivy was ready. The vines that had been wound around her arms looking like nothing more than decorations to her costume instantly came alive. They slithered fast as lightning down her arms before shooting forward like angry vipers. Harley shrieked as they coiled around her before she could dodge their winding reach. Ivy’s furious attack was over almost before it had begun. Harley fell to the floor with a loud thud. She screamed in agony as thorns sprang out to bury themselves into her flesh. She struggled, but it only drove the thorns in deeper. Then her screams took on a higher pitch as she writhed on the floor. Blood oozed up from the wounds and started to fizzle as it hit open air.  
Robin started forward, baterang out and crouched ready to fight. Harley’s screams had finally forced him to break his promise to stay out of the situation. He stared in shock at Ivy’s dispassionate gaze as her former best friend writhed on the floor. He lurched forward as if to help Harley.  
“Don’t,” Ivy warned. “The thorns are poisoned.”  
“But you’re killing her!” Robin cried in dismay.  
“It’s only what she deserved. She knew better than to take what’s mine.” Ivy glared at the other woman. Harley was sobbing now as she went limp. There was no remorse in Ivy’s eyes as she watched the other woman suffer. She startled when Nightwing’s hand gripped her ankle. She jerked her gaze away from Harley to her lover at her side.  
“No, Ivy,” Nightwing breathed. “No.”  
Ivy’s fingers curled into fists at her side. “She hurt you. She intended to kill you. Like for like, my love.”  
Nightwing shook his head. “Don’t do this. Not for me. Think about what you are risking…”  
Don’t let that city destroy you again, Patricia’s voice rang in Ivy’s ears. She had promised it would not, but something about this city unmade her. She was risking everything for a moment of revenge. Her eyes drifted back to Harley, who was lying deathly still now. The only sign of life were the tears still dripping from her terrified eyes. Revenge was not worth losing her life and the family she had now.  
“Enough, my pet,” she called off the vines. The thorns instantly disappeared, but the vine did not release Harley from its constricting grip. “I hope Harley that you remember Nightwing’s kindness. I would have let you die.”  
Harley sniveled pathetically where she lay.  
“What about the poison?” Robin asked worriedly.  
“Call an ambulance to come get her. I will not help her.” Ivy said coldly. “There is someone more important for me to take care of right now.” Nightwing’s shaking had not gone unnoticed. His condition was noticeably worsening.  
Robin looked torn. He glanced between Harley and his step-brother who looked horrifyingly pale and sick. The boy wonder reached into his utility belt to push the remote button to call the Batmobile to them. He shook his head before hurrying to Nightwing’s side to help Ivy pull him to his feet. Together, Robin and Ivy maneuvered the older vigilante out of the old house. The Batmobile was parked out in front of the house by the time they struggled outside. It was a struggle to get Nightwing loaded into the car that was only meant to hold two people. He ended up on the floor board with his head in Ivy’s lap, clinging to her thighs as he began to shake harder.  
“Hurry,” Ivy hissed at Robin.  
“I am,” the boy grumbled. He triggered the car’s autopilot to head for home. The car took off down the road. When they were far enough away he hit the phone call button on the dash. Ivy said nothing as he quickly made an anonymous call to 911 for help in the abandoned house they’d just left. “Will she die?” Robin couldn’t help but ask.  
“Only if they don’t reach her in time.” Ivy answered, her voice distant as she caressed Nightwing’s cheek.  
Robin glanced down at his step brother. The older vigilante did not look good. He seemed almost delirious, barely moving and breathing rapidly. “How much time does she have?”  
“Fifteen minutes or so. It’s a simple enough poison. Quick. Effective.” Ivy replied. “Easily cured.”  
Robin didn’t say anything after that. He wished the Batmobile would hurry up in getting them back to the batcave. Batman was already going to kill him for so many things that had happened tonight. Ivy apparently knew all their identities anyways. What difference did it make at this point if she knew where the Batcave was? It was too late now if she ever decided to betray them. Nightwing had put them all at risk, but Robin had to trust that his step brother knew what he was doing.  
By the time they made it back to the Batcave, Nightwing was shaking, sweating, and trying his best not to vomit as drug withdrawal started to truly affect his system. The two carefully helped the older vigilante out of the Batmobile. They stumbled their way over to the medical area before sitting him down on the clinic bed. Nightwing had never felt this physically horrible in his life. This was why he’d stayed away from drugs. He knew the after effects were never worth the high they induced. To his vague amazement, Ivy started issuing orders to Robin and the boy listened.  
“I need a first aid kit,” she was saying. “He needs clothes and some blankets. Hurry!”  
Robin scrambled away to get what she’d asked.  
“Bird,” she breathed, cupping his face in the palms of her hands. “My poor Bird.”  
“I feel terrible,” he shuttered hard.  
“I can make it stop.” She soothed. “But you must trust me.”  
Nightwing blinked up at her owlishly. “You know I do.”  
“Good.” A moment later her eyes turned poison green like they had back in that house with Harley. A shiver of fear coiled down Nightwing’s spin. He suppressed the urge to cringe away from her hands. He did trust her. He loved her. He clung to that as his body shivered and sweated through another onslaught of withdrawal. She leaned forward to kiss him. He relaxed into her kiss, opening his mouth as her tongue swept across his lips. When her tongue touched his, he stiffened in pain and tried to jerk away. It felt like an agonizing electric current followed by scorching heat that blazed a trail from where her tongue touched his down through every nerve in his body. Her hands clamped on his jaw as he struggled to get away from the agony pouring through him. Then just as suddenly as it started, it was over. She pulled away, caressing his jaw for a brief moment, before letting go.  
To his utter surprise, he felt good. The withdrawal effects were completely gone. The only pain left were from the deep claw marks and bruises littering the length of his body. He looked up at her in astonishment. “What’d you do?”  
“I have naturally high immunities as you know. It neutralizes the effects before they can harm me. I merely passed along a dose of that immunity to you in my saliva.” She explained briefly.  
“That really hurt.” He rubbed his chest where the lingering memory of electric fire seemed to have settled.  
She smiled apologetically. “My genetics have never mixed well with others.”  
“Ours did, apparently. We made William.” He reminded her, taking her hand and giving it a squeeze.  
“Only after I altered yours first.” She remarked quietly. “Which is why I was willing to risk sharing more with you just now.”  
Robin’s approach ended the rest of the conversation. She let go of Nightwing’s hand to reach for the first aid kit the boy had brought over.  
Robin tossed some loose sweat pants at his step brother. “Here put these on. It’s really uncomfortable staring at your nakedness.”  
“It’s ok to be jealous. Not everyone can look as awesome as me. “ Nightwing smirked at the boy. “Don’t worry. Someday you’ll grow big and tall too.”  
Robin scowled at his step brother. “Shut up and put on the damn pants!”  
Nightwing’s smirk only grew as he quickly shimmed into the pants provided for him. He glanced over at Ivy to see her smiling in amusement at their antics. He could barely believe she was here in the batcave with them. She was the first ex-villian to ever step foot inside Batman’s hideout.  
“Maybe…,” Robin shuffled his feet a little awkwardly. “Maybe we should go upstairs. Cause you know Batman’s gonna be pretty pissed about…um, this whole situation.”  
“He’s not moving until I’ve cleaned his wounds.” Ivy said firmly.  
“The lady has spoken.” Nightwing grinned, but it looked a little worn around the edges. He was exhausted and still in pain. He really just wanted to get patched up as quickly as possible so he could go to bed. Ivy quickly unpacked the items she needed from the first aid kit. She opened the bottle of antiseptic, poured it on to a cotton ball, and set to work cleaning out the long gashes across his ribs.  
“Why is she here!” Batman’s voice snapped out of the darkness, low and angry.  
Ivy flinched, but to her credit did not show any other sign of fear. She continued wiping the dirt and blood out of Nightwing’s wounds. Robin tensed up like he wasn’t sure if he should stay or run from the ensuing verbal fight.  
“Because she deserves to be.” Nightwing spat back, cringing as the antiseptic stung.  
“You know the rules.” Batman snarled. No one brought people into the Batcave without his permission.  
“I’ve never been much for following your rules, remember?” The younger man replied, sounding tired.  
An angry growl rippled through the cave, making even Robin cringe.  
“Look, I called her,” Robin jumped in. “I knew she’d be able to help, and--.”  
“Tim, it’s alright.” Nightwing waved him down. He was done with keeping up disguises. It was useless anyways. Ivy knew who they were so there was no point in keeping up appearances for her sake. “Bruce, she’s known about all of us for well over a year and she’s never said a thing.”  
“How does she know in the first place?” Batman snapped.  
There was silence in the cave for a few seconds.  
“Because I let her see.” Nightwing finally answered. He glanced down into Ivy’s beautiful face and smiled gently. She smiled back up at him, remembering the first time she’d looked into his eyes.  
“You told me they never took your mask off.”  
“I lied.” The younger man pronounced as though intoning nothing more exciting than the weather. “Harley doesn’t know if that makes you feel any better.”  
“It doesn’t.” Batman’s voice floated out of the darkness again. “When did you find her?”  
“When I went on vacation. It was a coincidence.”  
“I don’t believe in coincidence.”  
Nightwing shrugged and winced at the motion. “Then call it fate. I’d no idea she was there.”  
“I didn’t want to be found.” Ivy remarked softly.  
“And Payton Ives is just a convenient cover.” Batman growled.  
“No,” Ivy answered firmly. “I am Payton Ives. It’s my life now. I would never have come back to Gotham if I could have avoided it.”  
“And the boy…William?” Batman finally emerged out of the shadows to glare at her. “A ruse? Another plant life being you created to mimic humans?”  
She glowered. “I don’t grow monstrous plants anymore. William is our son.” She reached over and gripped Nightwing’s hand tight.  
“Our?” Robin looked like he’d been punched in the gut. He looked at his step brother like he’d grown a third eye.  
“You were supposed to be unable to bear children.” Batman remarked drily.  
Ivy’s fingers clenched around Nightwing’s. “That is what I thought. But William is ours. I bore him in my womb and birthed him the same as any woman. And I was with no other man, but Nightwing during the time frame I could have conceived.”  
“And you knew nothing about her pregnancy?” Batman cut his eyes over to Nightwing.  
Nightwing shook his head. “Nothing. But I won’t give William up now.”  
“Holy crap!” Robin’s voice echoed off the cave walls a moment later. Realization had suddenly sunk in for him. “Dick, you’re a dad!?”  
“Yeah. William’s my son. And before you ask, Bruce, yes I did a DNA analysis. You can run another if you want.” Nightwing answered. Ivy looked over at the younger man with a brief look of sharp anger. He glanced at her with a brief expression of apology. “Like it or not, Bruce, she’s a part of this.”  
Bruce reached up and ripped his cowl off, throwing it down on to the computer console. He dropped down into his computer chair and steepled his fingers in front of him. Anger still boiled with in him. He didn’t think he’d ever been so angry with his surrogate son. “Were you ever going to tell me?” Bruce murmured quietly.  
“No.” Dick peeled the mask off his face and set it aside. “I would have hid them away from you forever if I could have.”  
“Sorry,” Tim muttered guiltily, feeling like it was his fault.  
“You did the right thing,” Ivy reassured him. “Thank you.”  
Tim stared at her in stunned disbelief for a minute. “You’re welcome.” He finally managed to get out.  
“You knew, Tim?” Bruce inquired; his tone dark and angry.  
Tim’s shoulders hunched up to his ears. “Dick made me swear not to tell. I didn’t mean to find out.”  
Bruce scrubbed a hand down his face. He hadn’t felt so betrayed by his family in a long time. The first time he’d felt like this was when Dick had left. He’d been bitter and angry about that for a year. It’d taken the two of them a long time to forgive each other. Now there was another rift driven between them; built on lies and misleading not just from Dick, but from Tim as well. There was one thing he valued above everything; loyalty.  
Heavy silence filled the cavern as Ivy finished bandaging Dick’s injuries. It was weighted with so many words that needed to be said, yet none of them seemed to have the courage to break the silence.  
“I’m sorry,” Dick finally whispered. “I didn’t want to hide my family from you. I was afraid of what you might do. You seemed so hell bent on making Ivy pay for what she had done. The only one that deserved punishment was Harley.”  
Bruce could understand why Dick had taken that course of action. He hadn’t listened when Dick had tried to explain. He had wanted Ivy brought to justice. His moral code demanded it. He never forgave anyone who hurt his kids. In his eyes, Ivy had done far more harm than Harley ever had to Dick. Those months after Dick’s return had been terrible. Dick had suffered like someone who was mourning the death of a loved one. Bruce had hated to see the young man go through that. He’d tried to offer what consolation he could, but he’d always been lousy at such things. He’d vowed that he would make Ivy pay.  
Yet, here she was sitting in his domain beside Dick like it was where she belonged. To his dismay, he could admit that they looked good together. There was obviously a great deal of attachment, probably even love, between the two of them. They had a family together. The very idea was astonishing. He would not quite believe it until he ran his own tests. She did look different. She seemed calmer, focused, and centered in who she was now. The only time he’d seen her so sane was the time she’d married that professor and pretended at having a family. She’d been very convincing then. He hadn’t quite been fooled though. He was still suspicious now.  
He couldn’t quite believe all the evidence suggesting that she’d changed her ways though. Obviously, she still had enough anger and resources to pick up being Poison Ivy in a moment’s notice. She had nearly killed Harley in her rage. It was the call Robin had made to 911 that tipped Batman off. He had seen the EMTs wheeling out Harley on a stretcher when he’d gone to the condemned house to investigate. The clowness had been covered in blood and very close to death. He’d overheard the EMTs discussing poison cures. It wasn’t hard to deduce what had happened.  
Watching Ivy now with his foster son, knowing what she had done to Harley, made him doubt her true intentions. Had she really only returned to Gotham just to save Dick? She had been off the radar for a year and a half. Never had she been gone so long. She’d always returned within at least 6 months with another scheme. He was not quite sure what to believe, and that bothered him most of all.  
“Please, believe Dick,” Ivy’s voice made him look up. Her face was open and earnest. “I no longer want be Poison Ivy. I have a family to be accountable to now. I have people I love that make me want to better myself. This is the last time you will see Poison Ivy in Gotham. I swear it.” She sounded determined in her resolve.  
Bruce stood up abruptly. “I need some time.” He stalked up the steps without a backward glance. The secret door at the stop slammed shut in his wake.  
Ivy took a deep, shuddering breath. She knew just how close she had come to ending back up in Arkham. Although she might have seemed calm while Batman had been there, inside she had been truly terrified. Batman had the power to destroy her whole world if he chose to and never had she been so acutely aware of it.  
“Come on.” Dick stood up carefully. “We all deserve some sleep after the night we just had.”  
“Yeah,” Tim smiled crookedly.  
Together, they all headed up the stairs and in to the manor above.  
//////////  
Dick brought her to his room. Alfred still kept it ready as though he expected the young man to show up at any time. It was something Dick would have to thank the old butler for later. Right now, what he wanted was a shower and to sink into the cool cotton sheets on his bed. It was strange to see Ivy inside his room. No woman had ever been in here. Not even Barbara when they had dated. It had never occurred to him to bring a woman into this room in the Manor. Ivy was special.  
She didn’t say anything about the lavish carpet, drapery, or furniture in the room. Beyond all that, it was rather bare. There were a few pictures on the wall. She walked further into the room, stopping by the bedside table to pick up the framed picture that sat there. It was the portrait the newspapers loved to run of Dick and his family mere days before they were killed. She smiled sadly then set it down.  
Ivy turned around to see Dick slowly peeling his clothes off. She moved to his side to help him slip out of his shirt. They made their way into the bathroom in silence. Ivy turned on the hot water tap to the bathtub.  
“A shower will do just fine,” Dick protested.  
“I intend to bath you then dress those wounds properly,” Ivy replied evenly.  
The young man didn’t argue. He was too tired. The idea of a bath as she tended to him honestly sounded a helluva lot better than a shower. She helped him into the tub when the water got to an acceptable level. She gently washed his hair, scratching her nails lightly across his scalp the way he liked. He shivered and despite everything his cock twitched with a hint of interest. No matter what happened, she would always be able to arouse him. He glanced up at her beautiful face. She had that crease in her brow that always showed up when she was concentrating. He sighed happily as she began to carefully wash him clean of the blood and grim.  
“Fuck, I love you,” he breathed as she leaned forward. Her breasts brushed across his left arm.  
She smiled lightly at him. “I love you, my bird.”  
“You do know you are gorgeous right?” He whispered into her ear.  
“Save that for later.” Her smile widened into a grin.  
He relented for the moment. He let her finish cleaning him up. There were no complaints after she got him out of the bath, dried him, and sat him on the edge of the tub to dress his wounds. He was compliant as she directly him back into the bedroom. She turned the covers down then directed him into bed. It had been a long time since someone had tucked him in. It wasn’t until he was comfortably ensconced in his blankets that she took care of her own needs.  
Ivy stroked the vines on her wrists, waking them then urging them to twine around the bed posts of the four poster bed. Dick smiled as his bed suddenly took on the feel of an indoor garden. Oddly, he did not feel threatened by the semi-alive plants. He trusted Ivy. He watched as she pulled off her gloves and boots. Their eyes met as she shimmed out of her leotard. His breath caught as her breasts were revealed to the cooler air, tightening into rosy peaks. She bent over to peel the tights off her legs. When she straightened at last she was fully nude. Her womanhood was dusted with fine hairs the same bright red as the hair on her head. The full curve of her hips and the thickness of her thighs made Dick’s heart race with lust and appreciation. She was perfect in every way to him.  
She disappeared into the bathroom for a few minutes to tend to her needs. When she returned, she walked around to the other side of the bed. A moment later, the covers were pulled back and Ivy slid under them to lie down beside Dick. He rolled over to face her. He reached out tentatively across the meager space between them to rest his hand on the curvature of her waist.  
“Make love to me.” She whispered, wrapping her arms around him.  
He swallowed hard. “Ivy, I--.”  
“Don’t worry. Just take me. It’s alright.” She urged him gently. She knew what he needed to feel was control. Harley had taken away his ability to choose. Ivy wanted to give him relief and control back after what had been done to him.  
He pressed her onto her back before moving to lie over her. He buried his face in her neck and reached down to slip her thighs up around his waist. He didn’t fumble at all as he pushed inside her. She sighed contentedly as he slid fully within her, buried as far as he could. He didn’t still feel close enough. He didn’t move for a long moment. He shuddered in her arms as he let the sensations of her body flood him with a sense of peace. No one else made him feel this way when he made love. No amount of drugs or sex could compare to how it felt to be inside her: to love her completely.  
After a moment, he began to rock inside her slowly. The feel and scent of her skin made the world seemed to fade around him until he was lost in the moment. It was a different kind of high than the drugged induced euphoria. This was real, tangible, and beautiful. She held him close as his thrusts picked up a little more speed and depth. There was no rush to completion. It was unhurried and intimate in the way Dick so desperately needed in that moment. When his hips began to quake with impending release, Ivy scraped her nails across his scalp and whispered I love you in his ear. He came with full body shudder but barely a sound. A moment later, she arched beneath him as she climaxed. Her sharp gasp of release made him shiver before kissing her breathless. He continued to rock into her drawing out her pleasure until it her body finally relaxed under him.  
“Thank you,” he sighed, rolling off her to the side.  
“No need to thank me,” she smiled, brushing his hair out of his eyes. “I needed that as much as you.”  
He huffed a laugh before reaching over to tug her up against his side. “I love you.”  
“I know you do.” Her smile almost looked sad in the darkened room, but Dick wrote it off as a trick of the light. “I love you too. Now go to sleep, my bird.”  
They settled in beneath the covers, warm and safe, and within moments Dick drifted off to sleep. Ivy took a deep shuddering breath before slowly lifting her arm to look at her skin. The green tint had crawled up the entire length of her arm. A quick glance showed that the other arm was in much the same state. She swallowed hard as bile crawled up the back of her throat. She had felt sick and weak since the car ride back to the Batcave. Fear made her chest feel tight and every breath felt restricted. Her hands shook as panic threatened to overcome her. She closed her eyes before taking a deep breath. She let it out in a long, steady exhale. The fear dissipated a little as she forced herself to relax. She held Dick tighter. She prayed to whatever deity that was listening that somehow the inevitable would never happen.  
//////////  
Bruce passed the floor of his study, brooding over what had happened in the batcave only moments before. He came here when he needed to think. It was his father’s study. The walls were lined with book shelves filled with his father’s journals, newspaper clippings, and accounting books. An old radio sat on a table by the door. Little had been changed in this room since the original owner had passed away. Bruce could not bear to alter a thing.  
Family meant everything to him. His father and mother had been a loving, honest source of support in his formative years. They were gone before they could teach him how that love could extend out beyond the family atmosphere. Bruce guarded his love closely. It was extended on to those he considered family. Dick had been the first person Bruce had opened his world up to in every way since his parents’ deaths. Dick was the first to become family outside of Alfred. Perhaps, he did not realize how much he altered Bruce’s life. It had been difficult at first to learn to open up and let this child in. To learn to trust and love this other human who like him had lost the only family he had known.  
The night Dick had thrown his Robin mask to the ground and left Bruce had been devastating. Bruce had been stabbed, beaten, tortured, and maimed in so many ways. Nothing had hurt as badly as watching Dick turn his back and leave. Bruce had been determined to cut Dick out of his life. But they were family. Bruce could not let go of his love for his surrogate son. He tried desperately, but Dick had changed him. It was because of Dick that Bruce found him taking in yet another lost boy. It was hard this time to invite Tim into his life, to open up again, and to love as well as trust this new surrogate son. Hope always remained that Dick would come back; that the hole missing in his world would mend.  
When Dick finally came back, Bruce’s world felt righted back on its axis. He was not surprised that Dick refused to move back in. They were not that healed yet from the wound of ill spoken words. Yet, his family had been reunited. His world had expanded again with Tim, Dick, and Alfred in the center of it. He would protect them with his life. They meant everything to him. They were the few that understood and knew how powerful his love could be.  
He frowned thoughtfully. Lack of trust and faith in his family had torn them apart once. Yet, it was challenging to let go of his suspicions towards Poison Ivy. Her schemes were manipulative, sneaky, and designed to hurt her targets at the very heart of their weaknesses. He would never forgive himself if allowed anything to harm his son.  
A knock on the door made him glance up. Alfred appeared in the door way a moment later at Bruce’s beckoning. The old butler was carrying a tray of tea and sandwiches. He always believed his ward needed something to fortify his appetite before bed. Alfred set the tray down on the desk before folding his arms behind his back.  
“I’m sure you are aware that Poison Ivy is currently in the Manor,” Bruce remarked, dropping down into the desk chair.  
Alfred poured the younger man a cup of tea then placed it in front of him. “I am, sir.”  
Bruce took a sip of the tea and dragged the plate of sandwiches closer. “I don’t like it.”  
“One could hardly expect you would after what she and Harley had done to Master Dick,” the old butler replied easily.  
“Dick lied to me. He hid her from me. She deserves to be in Arkham.” He drummed his fingers on the desk rapidly for a moment. He stilled. “They have a son, Alfred.”  
The butler’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “A son?”  
“His name is William,” Bruce sat back without touching the sandwiches. “I find it difficult to believe after the last debacle with the ready-made family she created.”  
Alfred hummed thoughtfully. “I doubt Dick would lie about something as serious as that.”  
Bruce shook his head. “No, but he could be deceived.”  
“Do you trust your son?” Alfred asked shrewdly.  
The younger man scowled.  
“It is a simple question, Master Bruce,” the old butler stated.  
Bruce got to his feet and paced past the desk along the length of the book shelves. “He betrayed my trust, Alfred. He should have told me! Now I am left wondering how much of this is by her design or if he’s telling the truth!”  
“Do you trust you son?” Alfred pressed.  
The younger man stopped with his back to the old butler, who was more like his father.  
“Family is never easy. Sometimes it takes someone to extend an olive branch in order to keep a family together. Love and trust must be offered in order to be returned.” Alfred stated.  
“I trust my son,” Bruce sighed, shoulders drooping slightly.  
“Then give the young man a chance. Trust his judgement with Poison Ivy. If he is wrong then you are ready and prepared for the fall out. If not, then perhaps you have a larger family than you thought,” Alfred smiled when his ward looked back at him. “Eat your sandwiches, Master Bruce. You must keep up your strength.”  
Bruce’s lips twitched in the barest hint of a smile. “Thank you, Alfred.”  
“You’re welcome, sir. Good night.” Alfred left the room, shutting the door silently behind him.  
Bruce sat back down at the desk to eat the sandwiches his butler left. Bruce decided to trust that he’d given Dick the right morals and knowledge to make the right decisions. Dick was his son. Bruce needed to learn from the past and hope that this was not another disastrous mistake.  
“My trust,” he murmured, low and gruff, “is not easily won, but I will give her a chance.”  
//////////  
As much as Bruce disliked having Poison Ivy in his Manor it was necessary. Now that he’d had some time to control his temper he was able to think rationally again. It was a good opportunity to investigate and understand everything that had happened last night. After a few hours of sleep and talking with Alfred, the need to know the whole truth had taken priority over his feelings. He was after all still a detective. There were certain things he must know before he would bestow a blessing of acceptance on Dick and Ivy’s relationship. He had returned to the Batcave in the early dawn hours to begin his research into Payton Ives/Pamela Isley/Poison Ivy all over again. That was where Tim found his foster father hours later.  
He dithered behind Bruce’s back for a moment as he debated whether or not to tell his foster father what he had seen last night. “She got rid of his withdrawal symptoms.” Tim finally blurted out to his foster father.  
Bruce spun around in his chair. “What?”  
“I saw it. She kissed him and the withdrawal effects just went away.” The boy explained briefly. “I heard her tell Dick that she dosed him with her own natural immunities in her saliva.”  
Bruce drummed his fingers against the arm rest as he thought about that. “That shouldn’t have been possible. Harley has admitted that Poison Ivy had to give her immunities through injection. All of her poisons and toxins have to be introduced into the person’s system via outside means such as with lipstick or needles. There is no documented event of her being able to use only her saliva to dose someone.”  
“So you’re saying her kiss shouldn’t have been able to do that?”  
“Yes.” Bruce’s fingers tapped a little harder as his brain processed through the possibilities. “Unless of course the person was already predisposed to her DNA and thus, her immunities.”  
Tim’s eyebrows shot up in surprise at the very idea that Bruce was suggesting. “You think Dick’s been changed?! But how?”  
Bruce gave him a withering look.  
“Oh! Ewww!” Tim’s face twisted up into a look of disgust.  
“She shouldn’t have been able to bear children. Yet somehow Dick impregnated her. If it truly is his child…” Bruce’s gaze seemed turn inward as he pondered. “Could Dick have been exposed to her DNA for so long that it altered his to the point that their bodies became compatible…?”  
“You’d need DNA samples to test that theory. Hers, Dick’s, and the kid’s.” Tim realized.  
“That won’t be necessary,” a soft voice made them both startle. They looked up towards the steps that led down into the cave from the mansion.  
Bruce scowled at the red haired woman who dared to step foot down into his lair. “Why won’t it be necessary?”  
“Because his DNA has been altered.” Ivy replied, walking down the stairs. “That is why we were able to create a child.”  
“Does that mean he’s gonna start being able to manipulate plants and create poison?” Tim looked horrified.  
“No.” She smiled. “It merely means he has a more protected immune system, especially after my kiss earlier. His DNA has not changed dramatically. My own drugs no longer affect him. Dick told me Harley used my sex pollen and mind altering drugs on him. They did nothing. That’s why she used that experimental street drug instead. It only affected him so strongly because his new immunities did not have time to protect him. I believe over a more extended period of time that drug would have stopped working.”  
“And your son? What of his abilities?” Bruce inquired with a dark look.  
Ivy shook her head. “I don’t know. He’s to young yet to tell. I have refused all shots from his doctor and he has yet to be ill. But if you are truly interested in seeing for yourself…” She swept the rest of the way down the steps and across the floor to where Bruce sat. She pretended to not see his tense reaction to her close proximity. She pushed up her sleeve before thrusting her arm at him. “Take as much blood as you need for a sample.”  
Bruce glanced up in surprise. “Why?” The green tinge of her skin hadn’t escaped his notice.  
“I’d rather you not try to obtain it through some other subtle means,” She smiled. When his expression darkened, she sighed. “I no longer have anything to hide from you. I am not Poison Ivy anymore. That was her last appearance.”  
“Are you going back to Florida?” Tim cut in curiously.  
She nodded. “Yes. My life is there now.” She gestured at Bruce. “Come now. I am not fond of needles. Please make it quick.”  
“No.” Dick’s voice echoed through the open space of the cave. He came stomping down the steps with a glare aimed at Bruce. “I already had tests taken. If you’re so damn curious look for yourself.” He reached Bruce’s chair and thrust a CD case into his step father’s hand. Ivy stepped back to tuck herself against Dick’s side. He slipped his arm around her waist to give her a reassuring squeeze.  
“Who ran these tests?” Bruce asked warningly.  
Dick answered curtly. “Dr. Waters.”  
“You took this information to a civilian?”  
“I’ve known him since I was 14. I have trusted him with my life. I wasn’t about to let you run these tests. Not with your attitude about Ivy. I didn’t want you anywhere near my family.” Dick scowled at the older man.  
Bruce sat back in his chair. His expression didn’t seem to change, but Dick knew the signs. His step father was reeling. Dick sighed regretfully, letting go of Ivy, so he could reach out to grip Bruce’s arm. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t trust you with this. This isn’t something any of us have ever dealt with before. I have a family. I wanted to protect it. Hide it. Because I wanted it to be all mine. I didn’t want to share it. I was scared you’d try to destroy it—even unintentionally.”  
Bruce glanced down at the CD in his hands. “I am still not convinced this is not just another hoax. She nearly had us believe that she had changed once before.” He and Ivy’s gaze met from the few feet of distance between them. She did not flinch from the intensity of his stare. “I’ll look over these results.”  
Dick took the hint and backed off. “We’ll leave you to it then.” He took Ivy’s hand before heading back towards the stairs. He knew things were not fixed between him and Bruce. Maybe they never would be. The trust between them had been strained to the breaking point. He refused to feel guilty for his actions. He felt justified in hiding his family. The battle for justice was never ending for Bruce. If he felt like his family had been wronged, he wouldn’t stop until vengeance had been exacted.  
Dick was so lost in his thoughts that he barely reacted in time to catch Ivy when she suddenly fainted beside him. “Ivy!” He exclaimed, catching her before she hit the floor. Panic seized him at the pale greenish hue that suddenly tinged her skin along with the sweat that seemed to have broken out on her brow. He effortlessly lifted her up, startled by how light she felt in his arms, and hurried her over to examination table. Bruce and Tim were beside him in an instant. Dick ignored them as he automatically checked her pulse, which was fast and weak. Her breathing was shallow. Something was wrong, but he didn’t know what. It terrified him. His hands began to shake as fear overwhelmed him.  
“Step back, Dick,” Bruce said firmly, pushing his step son out of the way.  
“No!” Dick instantly resisted. Anger flashed through him as Tim stepped in to hold him back.  
“You are not thinking rationally! Stand back!” Bruce snapped.  
His step father’s sharp reprimand was enough to snap Dick out of his momentary panic. He shuffled back, but waited anxiously as Bruce looked over the listless woman. Ivy moaned faintly as Bruce pressed his fingers against her throat to check for swollen glands. He frowned as he continued to check over the woman. Her skin temporarily darkened to a greener color wherever his fingers pressed. Her symptoms almost looked like extreme anemia.  
“I need to look at a sample of her blood,” he said definitely.  
Dick gritted his teeth. “No.”  
“She might be anemic, Dick, or something worse. Let me look.” Bruce tried to reason calmly.  
“Fine.” The younger man snapped.  
Bruce quickly gathered what he needed. In a matter of moments, he had drawn a vial of blood that looked more like chlorophyll then human blood. Dick took a glance at the vial before looking away quickly. Even a glance, was enough to send a faint shudder of disgust through him. The amount of toxins it would take to do that to a person’s blood had to be phenomenal. Now, he had part of that inside him. It was one thing to read it on a computer screen or a print out. To see the evidence what had altered his DNA was entirely different. It frightened him more than he cared to admit even to himself.  
Bruce poured a small amount from the vial onto a telescope slide before imputing it into the computer to be scanned. A few brief moments, then suddenly the blood was magnified on screen to amazing proportions. Cells were suddenly visible floating through green plasma. As they watched several cells seemed to break apart and then disintegrate. No new ones appeared to replace those that had just been lost.  
“Her cells are dying!” Tim gapped. “But that’s…,” He glanced over at his step brother, “really bad…” he trailed off.  
Dick felt sick to his stomach at the implications.  
“I am withering,” she said faintly.  
They all spun around to face her. She was watching her cells die on the screen with an expression of sorrow. She did not look surprised. She seemed resigned.  
Dick sank down onto the table beside her. “What?”  
“Plants grow, bloom, and then bear their fruit or crop. After that they wither and die. The plant works towards one purpose…to reproduce and then its life ends. That is nature.” Ivy explained gently. “My body put all its effort into creating William to be perfect and healthy. I bore him and now my body is fading.”  
“Wit…,” his voice faded out before he could finish the word. “What does that mean, Ivy?” Fear was already beginning to claw its way up his throat and squeeze his chest tight.  
Her eyes glistened with unshed tears. “You know what it means.”  
He jumped to his feet. “No!” He paced several strides from the table. “That can’t be it! It’s got to be something else. I refuse to believe…you’re not a plant!”  
“I’m not entirely human anymore either,” she reminded him quietly.  
“But…withering?” He shook his head. He turned back around to gaze at her forlornly.  
She smiled sadly and said nothing.  
“How long?” He whispered, dragging his fingers through his hair.  
“Months,” she answered ambiguously.  
He slid his hands from his hair down to cover his face. He took a deep shuddering breath and let it out slowly. “Have you fainted before this?”  
“No.” She replied. “I believe I pushed my body to far when I saved you from Harley and got rid of last of the drugs in your body.”  
“God,” he breathed.  
She closed her eyes and sighed softly. “I would do it again.”  
He hurried back to her side then took her hand. “Ivy.”  
“Please…don’t say anything else. Just take me up to the garden.” She reached up to him. “I want to sit amongst the flowers.”  
He swallowed thickly past the swell of emotion in his throat. He lifted her up bridal style before ascending the steps from the Batcave into the living room. He felt Bruce, Tim, and Alfred following him from a respectable distance. He appreciated that more than he could possibly say. He was glad they were near, but he didn’t think he could stand to have them any closer. He could barely process what was happening yet. He still couldn’t seem to believe that the woman in his arms that he had come to love was fading in his arms with every step he took towards the garden.  
He settled down in a bed of endangered roses that Batman had saved from his first fight with Poison Ivy. It seemed like so long ago. He was careful not to scratch himself on their thorns as he sank down to the dirt. He arranged her so that she sat sideways in his lap with her head pillowed against his left shoulder. She smiled faintly at the sight of her flowers. They were a bitter sweet memory. Sorrow filled her at the evidence of the first break in her psyche. Yet, joy also swelled inside her that they had been saved by someone other than herself. They would live on; a legacy for other generations.  
“The roses,” she sighed, reaching out to run her finger tips over the delicate, soft petals. “Where I began…so must I end.”  
Dick swallowed hard. “Let me take you to a doctor.”  
“There is no doctor that could help me.” She answered. “There is no one else like me.”  
His arms tightened around her. “Let me try. Please.”  
“I am tired, Bird. I have fought for so long. Many years spent fighting for the wrong reasons. Few precious months spent fighting for what truly matters. Let me rest.” She relaxed back against him.  
“William needs you.” Dick pressed.  
“William needs his father. A good man. A hero.” She smiled. “He does not need the legacy of a twisted villainess.”  
“It lives on inside him. He’ll need you to help him.” Dick shot back. “You’re not a villain…not anymore.”  
“Then let my legacy fade out on a high note…before I fall back. I couldn’t bear it if he ever looked at me with fear or disgust. I love him to much,” her voice waivered.  
Dick turned his head to press his check against her soft red hair. “I can’t let you go. Not like this.”  
She smiled slightly. Her breath was growing shallower by the minute. She leaned more heavily against him, her body molding against his and reveling in the feel of him against her. She closed her eyes. She breathed in the scent of him, spicy and masculine, so uniquely a part of him. She didn’t regret a moment of her life that brought her to this point. She’d had to fall, wallow in the darkness, before she could climb back out in order to deserve his love for even a moment. She had made her most perfect creation because of this man. Though pregnancy and birth stole the life from her body, she would gladly do it all again. William was beautiful, wonderful, and the only truly good piece of herself she had left. He was untainted and purely innocent in a way she had not been for a long time. She’d rather die now then corrupt him, even if only by accident.  
“Raise William to be a hero,” she whispered. “To do good and protect others as you do. He will need you.”  
Dick hitched a sob as he hugged her tight. “I will. I promise.”  
She opened her eyes to gaze upon the sweeping garden that surrounded her. Everywhere flowers were in bloom. Wind whispered through their stems and petals softly as a caress. The blue sky over head was nearly cloudless and brilliant. The sun shone down in warm rays to make the flowers’ hues stand out boldly against the green landscape surrounding them.  
“Beautiful,” she breathed. Her skin had grown clammy as her heart stuttered in her chest. She reached up to touch Dick’s cheek. “My bird,” she murmured. “I love you.”  
He nuzzled into her hand. “I love you, Ivy.”  
She smiled and her hand dropped gently into her lap. She closed her eyes as the last breath left her body. Her heart beat faded away into silence. Dick trembled as he curled himself around her limp form. Tears spilling down his cheeks, as grief overcame him. It had happened so suddenly. Only an hour ago, she had been standing beside him seemingly fine. Now she had slipped away from him forever. She was gone before he had truly grasped he was losing her. The soft breeze ruffled his hair as silent tears dripped from his cheeks into her hair.  
He didn’t know how long he sat there until his tears finally stopped. He raised his eyes from her still frame and looked at the blooming roses all around him. Carefully, he reached out to pluck one before placing it gently behind her ear. A soft smile remained curled on her lips. She looked like she had only fallen asleep. He hoped where ever she had gone that it was to sprawling gardens and rolling green hills. She deserved peace and beauty after all her struggles. He stayed out there amongst the flowers until his legs went numb. Only then did he stagger to his feet to carry her inside.  
/////////  
To be continued…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY NEW YEAR! I FINALLY FINISHED THE NEXT CHAPTER!  
> I make no promises for when the next one will be out. My inspiration to write has only recently risen from its grave.  
> Thank you so much to all the wonderful people who have read this and reviewed (or Kudoed on AO3 as well). Your patience and encouragement as been what’s inspired me to continue working through this story. I know where I want it to go. It’s been extremely difficult to get it to flow.  
> Some sources I used to get a better grasp on Poison Ivy’s abilities.  
> http://www.cartoonwatcher.com/batman/batman-characters/character-poison-ivy.php  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8e_kxoD9w6Q


End file.
